Lipid nanoemulsions for anti-cancer drug therapy

Multifunctional lipid nanoemulsions have shown to combine several advantages e.g. tissue targeting, cell targeting, imaging analysis, barrier permeability enhancement, and therapeutic purposes. Depending on the choice of lipid composition, surfactants and additional surface modifiers ratio, different drug loadings may be achieved and exploited for drug delivery in cancer chemotherapy. However, a safe and effective delivery system for cancer therapy should also be able to overcome the major impediment of multidrug resistance. Several strategies have been tested in nanoemulsions including P-glycoprotein-mediated drug resistance. The present review focuses on a comprehensive discussion of the use of nanoemulsions in anti-cancer therapy, reporting the technological aspects of pharmaceutical formulation of these carriers, and exploiting their advantages in siRNA therapy.