Thinking small, doing big: Current success and future trends in drug delivery systems for improving cancer therapy with special focus on liver cancer

MORETTON, MARCELA A.; CUESTAS, MARÍA L.; BERNABEU, EZEQUIEL; LIMERES, MARÍA J.; CHIAPPETTA, DIEGO A.; MORETTON, MARCELA A.; CUESTAS, MARÍA L.; BERNABEU, EZEQUIEL; LIMERES, MARÍA J.; CHIAPPETTA, DIEGO A.

MATERIALS SCIENCE & ENGINEERING. C, BIOMIMETIC MATERIALS, SENSORS AND SYSTEMS

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2019 vol. 95 p. 328 - 341

0928-4931

Nanotechnology has recently emerged as a promising tool in biomedicine research. An important branch of nanotechnology is drug delivery and drug targeting using a wide range of biomaterials with promising potential applications in cancer research. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the evolution of nano- technology in cancer therapy, exemplified by a myriad of applications in drug delivery, tumor targeting and reversal of ATP-binding cassette drug transporter-mediated multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancer cells by the biomaterials used in nanoformulations. Special attention will be focused on liver cancer, especially, on hepa- tocellular carcinoma, which is among the malignancies with the poorest prognosis due to its extremely ?difficult- to-treat? nature related to its high recurrence rate and MDR phenotype.