Engineered Niosomes for Cancer Therapy: Classification, Synthesis, and Clinical Applications

Among various nano-drug delivery systems, a class of vesicular particles, namely liposomes, finds their way in cancer therapy of patients in the clinic. Soon after, niosomes, made of cholesterol and non-ionic detergents, were introduced as non-toxic alternatives. Easy fabrication and high capacity for codelivery of hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs made noisome interesting drug carriers especially for combination cancer therapy to achieve enhanced anti-cancer potential while reducing side effects as well as drug dosing. In this comprehensive review, we first introduce different classes of niosomes, synthesis methods, characterizations, and delivery strategies. Then, we discuss potential of advanced formats in both preclinical and clinical settings for cancer therapy. We envision that noisome, like their liposomal counterparts, may have good chance for clinical translation specifically for efficient combination chemotherapy, immune therapy, gene therapy, and photodynamic therapy of solid tumors.