Recent progress in tumor pH targeting nanotechnology

pH-sensitive polymeric micelles and nanogels have recently been developed to target slightly acidic extracellular pH environment of solid tumors. The pH targeting approach is regarded as a more general strategy than conventional specific tumor cell surface targeting approaches, because the acidic tumor microclimate is most common in solid tumors. When nanosystems are combined with triggered release mechanisms by endosomal or lysosomal acidity plus endosomolytic capability, the nanocarriers demonstrated to overcome multidrug resistance of various tumors. This review highlights recent progress of the pH-sensitive nanotechnology developed in Bae research group. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.