Dendrimers as Drug Carriers for Cancer Therapy

Abstract

The efficacy of anticancer agents is often limited due to treatment-related toxicity, poor pharmacokinetics, and inadequate drug accumulation in the tumor. Advances made in the field of cancer nanomedicine have made it possible to reduce the toxicity, alter the pharmacokinetics and biodistribution, increase site-specific drug delivery, and enhance the efficacy of many therapeutic agents by using nanoparticles as drug carriers. These nanocarriers can be composed of polymers, lipids, proteins, or inorganic materials. Among these delivery systems, dendrimers form a separate class of branched polymer nanoparticles that has shown great promise in cancer drug delivery. In this chapter, we describe the application of dendrimers as nanocarriers for drug and gene delivery in cancer. We discuss the structures, properties, and various synthesis methods for dendrimers suitable for anticancer drug delivery. Further, we describe various types of dendrimers with appropriate examples in different therapeutic modalities of cancer. Recent examples of drug and gene delivery using dendrimers and their advantages are also presented. The application of tumor-targeted delivery systems using dendrimers is described. The chapter concludes with a description of current challenges with dendrimer-based drug delivery and efforts made to bring these promising systems to the forefront of cancer treatment.