Dendrimer platform against prostate cancer: Recent update on new horizon of treatment

Abstract

Prostate malignancy is regarded as one of the most lethal disorders in men. In the last two decades, new cases of prostate cancer have risen swiftly worldwide. Currently, the conventional strategies to treat prostate cancer are none other than chemotherapy, prostatectomy, and radiation therapy. However, these methods exist with their drawbacks, including the adverse effects and risks which could potentially outweigh the treatment efficacy. With that, the advancement of nanoparticles (NPs) as modern approaches for prostate cancer treatment is being extensively explored to eradicate the malignancy effectively. The notable nano-formulations that have presented significant development in prostate cancer treatment are abiraterone liposomes, lycopene loaded in polymeric nanoparticles, curcumin nano-emulsions, and so forth. These formulations have an important driving force to discover and advance the use of NPs in prostate cancer therapy. Currently, various research focuses on dendrimers as novel nanoparticles in prostate cancer. Dendrimers are globular macromolecules in the nanoscale that can be applied in the delivery of nano-formulations to overcome the limitations of conventional treatments. In this study, some of the significant dendrimers, including PAMAM dendrimers, magneto-dendrimers, self-assembling amphiphilic peptide dendrimers (AmPDDs), siRNA dendrimers, heterofunctional carbosilane metallodendrimers, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs)-(PAMAM) dendrimers as well as DNA dendrimers were analysed and discussed based on past research. The efficacies and mechanisms of each dendrimer are reviewed to understand their operations in the human body. Although the dendrimers vary from one to another in terms of bioavailability, functional groups, and other properties, all of them met the criteria as vehicles of anticancer agents and serve the main purpose of delivering the drugs to the desired target site for the potential cure of prostate cancer.