Abstract
According to a 2020 World Health Organization report (Globocan 2020), cancer was a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020. The aim of anticancer therapy is to specifically inhibit the growth of cancer cells while sparing normal dividing cells. Conventional chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgical treatments have often been plagued by the frequency and severity of side effects as well as severe patient discomfort. Cancer targeting by drug delivery systems, owing to their selective targeting, efficacy, biocompatibility and high drug payload, provides an attractive alternative treatment; however, there are technical, therapeutic, manufacturing and clinical barriers that limit their use. This article provides a brief review of the challenges of conventional anticancer therapies and anticancer drug targeting with a special focus on liposomal drug delivery systems.
Highlights
Cancer Statistics: Need for Better TherapeuticsCancer is a group of diseases characterized by uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells that have the latent potential to penetrate other tissues
3–10 molecules of cytotoxic drug are known to conjugated to the anchoring antibody [5] (Figure 2). (b) Due to limited number of drugs conjugated to each antibody, a high number of antibodies are required to deliver therapeutic levels of the drug. (c) Poor localization of actives; (d) suboptimal drug release from the conjugate; (e) ADC related toxicities e.g., gastro-intestinal (GI) toxicities caused by SGN-15 immunoconjugate [5,70] (Figure 2)
Liposomes prepared with hydrogenated phosphatidyl inositol/phosphatidyl choline/cholesterol (HPI/HPC/CH) exhibited an apparent half-life of 15.5 h of encapsulated doxorubicin as compared to 1 h of traditional liposomes prepared with egg-originated phosphatidyl glycerol (PG), phosphatidyl choline (PC) and cholesterol [93]
Summary
Cancer is a group of diseases characterized by uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells that have the latent potential to penetrate other tissues. It is the leading cause of death worldwide, amounting to nearly 7.6 million deaths globally i.e., nearly 13% of total deaths in 2008 [1] and more recently 10 million deaths in 2020 [2]. 1670 deaths per day and nearly a quarter of total deaths in the US [3]. These data highlight the significance of anticancer research and the necessity to discover innovative ways to treat cancer.
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