A Review on Delivery of Anti-Cancer Drugs by Smart Nanocarriers: Data Obtained from Past One Decade

Abstract

Problems associated with the administration of anticancer drugs, such as limited solubility, poor biodistribution, lack of selectivity, and healthy tissue damage, can be overcome by the implementation of Smart Drug Delivery Systems (SDDSs). Nonspecific distribution and uncontrollable release of drugs in conventional drug delivery systems (CDDSs) have led to the development of smart nanocarrier-based drug delivery systems, which are also known as Smart Drug Delivery Systems (SDDSs). SDDSs can deliver drugs to the target sites with reduced dosage frequency and in a spatially controlled manner to mitigate the side effects experienced in CDDSs. Chemotherapy is widely used to treat cancer, which is the secondly leading cause of death worldwide. Sitespecific drug delivery led to a keen interest in the SDDSs as an alternative to chemotherapy. A smart drug delivery system consists of smart nanocarriers, targeting mechanisms, and stimulus techniques. This review highlights the recent development of SDDSs for a number of smart nanocarriers, including liposomes, micelles, den-drimers, meso-porous silica nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles, super paramagnetic iron-oxide nanoparti-cles, carbon nanotubes, and quantum dots. The nanocarriers are described in terms of their structures, classification, synthesis and degree of smartness.