Drug delivery: Beyond active tumour targeting

作者：Sagnella Sharon M; McCarroll Joshua A; Kavallaris Maria^*

来源：Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine , 2014, 10(6): 1131-1137.

DOI：10.1016/j.nano.2014.04.012

• Nanomedicine
• Tumour microenvironment
• Drug delivery

Despite improvements in our understanding of cancer and the concept of personalised medicine, cancer is still a major cause of death. It is established that solid tumours are highly heterogeneous, with a complex tumour microenvironment. Indeed, the tumour microenvironment is made up of a collection of immune cells, cancer-activated fibroblasts, and endothelial cells and in some cases a dense extracellular matrix. Accumulating evidence shows that the tumour microenvironment is a major barrier for the effective delivery of therapeutic drugs to tumour cells. Importantly, nanotechnology has come to the forefront as highly effective delivery vehicles for therapeutic agents. This perspective will discuss how nanomedicine can be used to target and deliver therapeutic drugs specifically to tumour cells. Moreover, emerging opportunities to modulate the tumour microenvironment and increase the delivery and efficacy of chemotherapy agents to solid tumours will be highlighted.

• 出版日期2014-8