Nanocarriers as an Emerging Platform for Cancer Therapy

Dan Peer, Jeffrey M. Karp, Seungpyo Hong, Omid C. Farokhzad, Rimona Margalit, Robert Langer

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

The delivery of drugs through targeted nanocarriers that are internalized by cells provides an alternative route to diffusion of drugs into cells. Growth factor or vitamin interactions with cancer cells represent a commonly used targeting strategy, as cancer cells often over-express the receptors for nutrition to maintain their fast-growing metabolism. In the case of circulating cancer cells, as in leukaemia and lymphoma, a therapy that targets surface antigens with high affinity and includes a carrier with a long circulating half-life may be the most efficacious. Abraxane is an albumin-bound paclitaxel nanoparticle formulation approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2005 as a second-line treatment for metastatic breast cancer. The first angiogenesis inhibitor for treating colorectal cancer, Bevacizumab, an anti-VEGF mAb that inhibits the factor responsible for the growth of new blood vessels, was approved in 2004. Expelling drugs inevitably lowers the therapeutic effect and cancer cells soon develop resistance to a variety of drugs.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationNano-Enabled Medical Applications
EditorsLajos P. Balogh
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherJenny Stanford Publishing
Chapter2
Pages61-91
Number of pages31
ISBN (Electronic)9780429399039
DOIs
StatePublished - 24 Nov 2020

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