Nanoliposomes for doxorubicin delivery: Reversing drug resistance, stimuli-responsive carriers and clinical translation

Cancer is still a major threat to human life that is characterized by abnormal proliferation and metastasis of cancer cells. Chemotherapy is procedure of using anti-cancer drugs for preventing dissemination and prolifer-ation of tumor cells to kill them in improving survival rate and prognosis of patients. Chemotherapy has been a common conventional therapy for cancer, and it can be used along with surgical resection in cancer patients. However, drug resistance has led to chemotherapy failure in patients, especially in advanced and metastatic stages. Therefore, nano-scale delivery systems have been developed for reversing drug resistance and potenti-ating efficacy of chemotherapy agents. Liposomes are spherical vesicles with low particle size and high biocompatibility that have been used for drug delivery in cancer suppression. Liposomes can increase inter-nalization of doxorubicin (DOX) as an anti-cancer drug in tumor cells to boost its cytotoxicity. Furthermore, co -delivery of DOX with other anti-tumor drugs or gene therapy can lead to synergistic cancer therapy. pH-, redox-, light-and multi-sensitive liposomes have been designed for precise delivery of DOX in cancer suppression. Modification of liposomes with ligands such as hyaluronic acid that binds to CD44 receptor, enhances selectivity towards cancer cells. Furthermore, DOX-loaded liposomes mainly internalize in cancer cells via endocytosis that is dependent on different factors such as particle size, zeta potential and other physico-chemical properties.

Automated summary

Cancer is a life-threatening disease characterized by abnormal proliferation and metastasis of cancer cells. Chemotherapy, the use of anti-cancer drugs, is a common treatment for cancer, but drug resistance can lead to treatment failure. To overcome this, nano-scale delivery systems like liposomes have been developed to reverse drug resistance and enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy agents.