Chapter 7 - Multifunctional drug nanocarriers facilitate more specific entry of therapeutic payload into tumors and control multiple drug resistance in cancer

Abstract

Cancer in its various forms is considered as one of the world’s most devastating diseases. The triumph over cancer depends on the ability of therapeutics to reach the particular intracellular and intercellular targets, while lessening their accumulation at nonspecific sites. The advancement in nanotechnology and biotechnology has contributed immensely to the development of biocompatible nanocarriers adapted to specific needs and they have the ability to deliver therapeutic payloads specifically to the target tissue(s). The microenvironment of tumors possesses several unique features, thus the knowledge and understandings of tumor microenvironment are crucial for the development of nanocarriers targeted towards several specific types of tumors. Nanocarriers also possess the potential of delivering multiple drugs directed against different molecular targets, resulting in suppression of multidrug-resistant phenotypes as well as a decrease in multidrug-resistant based drug efflux. Surface amendment with various polymers, such as polyethylene glycol, improves circulation time by minimizing nonspecific uptake while inclusion of active targeting ligands allow for more precise tumor targeting. This chapter focuses on the modalities for overcoming different physiological barriers to tumor targeting using different types of multifunctional target-specific nanocarriers to facilitate more specific entry of drugs into the tumor for better therapeutic outcome, along with future directives to improve the frequency of translation of nanomedicine from laboratories to clinic.