Nanomedicine Treatment Strategies That Exploit Unique Characteristics of Tumor Vasculature and Microenvironment

To develop strategies for designing, distributing, and targeting drugs with greater efficacy than traditional cancer treatment, a thorough understanding of the specifics of tumor vasculature and its microenvironment is essential. The vasculature of tumors comprises aberrant vessels with increased diameters, abnormal branching and bending. The metabolic microenvironment of the tumor is disturbed by abnormal hypoxic stress caused by altered oxygenation levels, metabolism, and homeostasis. Elevated interstitial fluid pressure within a tumor is believed to significantly hamper the entrance and penetration of the drug into tumor tissue. Proteases in tumor promote tumor angiogenesis and activate signal transduction pathways that increase vessel permeability. In this chapter, we discuss the emergence of nanoparticles combined with traditional treatments, which may improve the effectiveness of anticancer drugs.