Smart Targeted-Nanocarriers for Cancer Therapeutics

The main hindrance in modern nanomedicine includes drug non-specific tissue biodistribution. This is particularly important for cancer, which is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Conventional chemotherapy is a beneficial therapy, however serious adverse events, as well as multidrug resistance, hampers the success of this treatment option. Innumerous research efforts have been conducted over the years aiming to create novel and more effective treatments, including the development of novel smart drug delivery systems (DDS) as an alternative to chemotherapy. Smart DDS should specifically target pathologic tissues with reduced dosage frequency in a spatially controlled manner, minimizing off-target effects of the active therapeutic agents on healthy tissues. Nanoparticle (NP) surfaces functionalization with targeting moieties specific to cell surface components, that are exclusive or upregulated in tumor tissues, has been a good strategy to enhance NP targeting. This chapter highlights the most recent advances in NP targeting over the last years. Ligand-NP conjugation chemistries are covered along with the various moieties’ classes, including aptamers, peptides, small molecules, antibodies and/or proteins. Each ligand class exhibits advantages, drawbacks and unique features that are discussed in detail. The current challenges and future research scope in the field are also presented.