Advance in anticancer drug development

Abstract

Cancer is one of the leading cause of death worldwide and responsible for 8.8 million deaths in 2015. It isrecommended that cancer mortality can be decreased by early detection and treatment. The new concept of theranostic (or theragnostic) involves simultaneously diagnostic and targeted therapeutic aiming to reduce delays in cancer treatment which appear to be crucial for personalized cancer treatment. The treatment can also be performed immediately after the diagnostic and vice versa to monitor the early response to the given treatment. Nanotechnology have been explored as a captivated tool for cancer theranosis due to the passive targeting delivery through extravasation of nanoparticles, 20-200nm in diameter, at the tumour site via enhanced permeability and retention effect, EPR. In this review, the recent developed platforms for both cancer nanotheranostics and cancer nanomedicines are updated. Both the physicochemical properties (particularly size, shape and surface chemistry) of nanoparticles and the complexity of tumour microenvironment are extremely important for design anti-cancer drug delivery systems. The golden rule is that the nanoparticles must reach and achieve their optimum concentrations at the tumour site without creating any fatal side effect. Several multifunctional nanoparticles were designed and investigated in vitro and in vivo for their potential uses as anti-cancer drug delivery systems as well as cancer theranostics. The designs of nanoparticles including liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, dendrimers, biodegradable polymeric-based nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, silica nanoparticles and metallic-based nanoparticles will be reviewed and compared.