Abstract
Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. The main modality to fight against cancer is surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, and more recently targeted therapy, gene therapy and immunotherapy, which play important roles in treating cancer patients. In the last decades, chemotherapy has been well developed. Nonetheless, administration of the drug is not always successful, as limited drug dosage can reach the tumor cells.. In this context, the possibility to use an encapsulated anti-cancer drug may potentially solve the problem. Liposomal cytarabine is a formulation with pronounced effectiveness in lymphomatous meningitis and reduced cardiotoxicity if compared to liposomal anthracyclines. Thus, the future liposomal cytarabine use could be extended to other diseases given its reduction in cytotoxic side effects compared to the free formulation. This review summarizes the chemistry and biology of liposomal cytarabine, with exploration of its clinical implications.
Highlights
Cancer has a major impact on society across the world
This article aims at discussing liposomal cytarabine in cancer therapy, starting from chemistry, dealing with its source and bioavailability, and/or coming to preclinical studies as well as clinical trials
We focused on the state-of-the-art of artificial lipid models by discussing their multiple applications and future perspectives [9,10]
Summary
Cancer has a major impact on society across the world. In 2018, an estimated 1.7 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the United States, and about six hundred thousand people will die from the disease [1]. The major cause of cancer-related mortality is metastasis, for which a curative approach is still lacking. The use of chemotherapy is useful in systemic treatment; regardless of cancer has been metastasized [2]. Drug delivery may not effectively target the desired site or may have effects on healthy tissues causing adverse effects [3,4,5]. Various formulations for chemotherapeutic drugs have been developed [6,7]
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