Abstract
Cancer is the second biggest cause of death in children in the US. With the development of chemotherapy, there has been a substantial increase in the overall survival rate in the last 30 years. However, the overall mortality rate in children with cancer remains 25%, and many survivors experience a decline in overall quality of life and long-term adverse effects caused by treatments. Although cancer cells share common characteristics, pediatric cancers are different from adult cancers in their prevalence, mutation load, and drug response. Therefore, there is an urgent unmet need to develop therapeutic approaches specifically designed for children with cancer. Nanotechnology can potentially overcome the deficiencies of conventional methods of administering chemotherapy and ultimately improve clinical outcomes. The nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems can decrease the toxicity of therapy, provide a sustained or controlled drug release, improve the pharmacokinetic properties of loading contents, and achieve a targeted drug delivery with achievable modifications. Furthermore, therapeutic approaches based on combining nanoformulated drugs with novel immunotherapeutic agents are emerging. In this review, we discussed the recently developed nanotechnology-based strategies for treating blood and solid pediatric cancers.
Highlights
Introduction to Pediatric CancerIn the United States, pediatric cancer is the second biggest cause of death for children under the age of 14, just exceeded by accidents [1]; and it is a leading cause of death for children and adolescents worldwide, in high-income countries [2]
With the maturity of novel anti-cancer therapy, more and more nanoparticle-based drugs are being approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), improving outcomes for adult cancer patients
Pediatric cancer is commonly treated with chemotherapy, which triggers potential severe side-effects and causes toxicity to normal tissues
Summary
In the United States, pediatric cancer is the second biggest cause of death for children under the age of 14, just exceeded by accidents [1]; and it is a leading cause of death for children and adolescents worldwide, in high-income countries [2]. There has been a substantial decline in the mortality rates for various cancers over the last 30 years among children under the age of 19 [3,4]. The 5-year survival rate increased from 58% (in the mid-1970s) to 84% by 2021. Despite recent progress, the 5-year death rate in children with cancer remains high, and many survivors experience long-term adverse effects that worsen their quality of life [1,5]
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