Recent Progression in Controlled Drug Delivery Through Advanced Functional Nanomaterials in Cancer Therapy

Cancer is increasingly the deadliest disease in the world. The number of deaths caused by this devastating illness is progressively rising. The therapy results are very disappointing despite the various advanced technologies in both developed and developing countries. Among the different types of advanced technologies, targeted drug delivery is one of the most widely used technologies in cancer therapy. However, there are a plethora of obstacles that have been identified to target drug delivery to cancer cells. In the current scenario, most of the anti-cancer drugs have poor water solubility, biocompatibility, and less target specificity. Not only that, but several adverse reactions, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, and hypersensitivity, have also been researched, because anti-cancer medications typically manifest their effects on normal cells alongside healthy cells. Current research focusses on innovative and smart drug delivery approaches by utilizing nanomaterials in drug formulation to overcome these limitations. In terms of solubility, circulation time, bioavailability, and dissolution rate, drug delivery based on nanomaterials is superior to drug administration than conventional methods. Inorganic and organic nanoparticles (NPs) have been successfully employed for drug delivery to the present day. Micellar NPs, liposomal NPs, lipid NPs, and protein-based NPs are examples of organic NPs, whereas inorganic NPs are made of materials like gold, silver, iron oxide, and titanium. Also, it was reported that DOX-loaded gold (Au) NPs conjugated with the cell-penetrating peptide BP100 (BP100@AuNPs-DOX) were a more effective drug delivery method for treating cancer cells than RGD-conjugated AuNPs-DOX (RGD@AuNPs-DOX). Several organic NP-based formulations, similar to liposomal-based anti-cancer drugs, are being reported to treat breast cancer such as myocyte (liposome combined with DOX). Thus, this review has highlighted current therapeutic formulations based on nanomaterials and their impact on various cancer cells.