Organic Nanocarriers for Delivery and Targeting of Therapeutic Agents for Cancer Treatment

Nanocarriers have the capability to deliver a variety of drugs to disease sites. Different biological barriers prevent the successful delivery of nanoformulations to target sites, thereby limiting effective therapeutic response. Although numerous efforts have been made to design novel nanocarriers by incorporating various functionalities to get better therapies, most strategies have failed to translate drug delivery systems to the clinic. Impediments such as the incapability to hold drugs stably in nanocarriers during circulation, non-specific distribution, and inadequate delivery of therapeutic agents to target sites due to complex tumor microenvironment remain a challenge. Herein, different organic polymer and lipid-based nanocarriers and their encouraging therapeutic effectiveness to treat cancer are discussed. Recent development in multifunctional and stimuli sensitive nanocarriers is also highlighted. Finally, the challenges and innovative strategies to overcome various obstacles and limitations for their successful translation into the clinic are discussed.