Abstract
Multiple factors are involved in the development of cancers and their effects on survival rate. Many are related to chemo-resistance of tumor cells. Thus, treatment with a single therapeutic agent is often inadequate for successful cancer therapy. Ideally, combination therapy inhibits tumor growth through multiple pathways by enhancing the performance of each individual therapy, often resulting in a synergistic effect. Polymeric nanoparticles prepared from block co-polymers have been a popular platform for co-delivery of combinations of drugs associated with the multiple functional compartments within such nanoparticles. Various polymeric nanoparticles have been applied to achieve enhanced therapeutic efficacy in cancer therapy. However, reported drug ratios used in such systems often vary widely. Thus, the same combination of drugs may result in very different therapeutic outcomes. In this review, we investigated polymeric co-delivery systems used in cancer treatment and the drug combinations used in these systems for synergistic anti-cancer effect. Development of polymeric co-delivery systems for a maximized therapeutic effect requires a deeper understanding of the optimal ratio among therapeutic agents and the natural heterogenicity of tumors.
Highlights
Cancer, next to heart disease, ranks as the second leading illness-related cause of death worldwide with a growing incidence and mortality
We would like to further elaborate on how drug combinations co-delivered are related to their therapeutic outcomes by concentrating on the dosing ratios between different therapeutic agents loaded in polymeric nanoparticles
We have discussed the different types of block co-polymers that have been formulated into polymeric co-delivery systems for cancer treatment
Summary
Next to heart disease, ranks as the second leading illness-related cause of death worldwide with a growing incidence and mortality. One strategy for delivery of drugs to the tumor site at the desired molar ratio involves the merging of nanotechnology with pharmacology and thereby take advantage of the nanoscale structures that carry multiple drugs, allow tuning of drug release, and modify biodistribution and pharmacokinetic characteristics of chemotherapeutic agents [4,5]. Such co-delivery systems may be used to regulate the dosages and the ratio of chemotherapeutic agents at the tumor site They may improve the efficacy of anticancer drugs through enhanced water solubility of hydrophobic molecules, lower toxicity, and higher stability, which prolongs blood circulation time to enhance accumulation in tumor tissues. More attention has been paid to polymeric nanoparticles mainly because of their potential to carry both hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs, favorable controlled drug release characteristics, low toxicity, high stability and a prolonged circulation time which enhances accumulation in tumor targets.
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