Lipid-Based Nanosystems for Gene and Drug Co-delivery in Cancer Therapy

Abstract

This chapter discusses the lipid-based nanosystems as delivery systems for nucleic acids and small molecule anticancer drugs, which opens the possibility for an efficient, targeted, combinatorial tumor therapy. Biotechnological research has resulted in the development of several useful tools over recent decades, which have made gene therapy a promising strategy for anticancer treatment. The recently developed Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat Cas9 system offers a different approach through the possibility of repairing mutated tumor suppressor genes, making it a very attractive future gene therapy tool. Since resistance gene knockdown can be achieved using gene therapy, the combination of classical anticancer drugs with nucleic acids may provide a safer and more efficient way to treat various cancers. As with the previous section on pDNA/drug delivery, we will start discussing the SLN formulations reported. In order to overcome the problem of drug resistance, combinations of drugs are commonly used in chemotherapy.