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Transport barriers and strategies of antitumor nanocarriers delivery system

Lin Zhang1, Yazhou Wang, Yang Cao

  • 1College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400030, People's Republic of China.

Journal of Biomedical Materials Research. Part A
|August 29, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Nanocarrier delivery to tumors is hindered by biological barriers. Strategies like tumor microenvironment normalization and nanocarrier optimization can improve drug delivery for enhanced cancer treatment.

Area of Science:

  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Nanotechnology
  • Oncology

Background:

  • Nanocarriers show promise in cancer therapy, but their efficacy is limited by poor delivery to tumors.
  • Barriers include systemic clearance, uneven tumor vasculature, high interstitial fluid pressure, and complex tumor matrix.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review nanocarrier structures and tumor microenvironment barriers affecting delivery.
  • To propose strategies for overcoming these barriers to improve nanocarrier delivery efficiency.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of nanocarrier design and tumor biology.
  • Analysis of physiological and structural barriers in the tumor microenvironment.
  • Conceptual design of strategies for enhanced nanocarrier delivery.

Main Results:

  • Identified key barriers: RES clearance, renal/hepatic accumulation, abnormal tumor vasculature, high interstitial fluid pressure, and heterogeneous tumor matrix.
  • Highlighted the significant reduction in nanocarrier numbers reaching the tumor interior.
  • Proposed two main strategies: tumor microenvironment normalization and nanocarrier optimization.

Conclusions:

  • Effective tumor targeting requires overcoming multiple biological barriers.
  • Tumor microenvironment normalization and nanocarrier optimization are crucial strategies to enhance drug delivery.
  • These approaches hold potential for improving the therapeutic efficacy of nanocarrier-based cancer treatments.
Keywords:
anti-tumorbarriersdeliverynanoparticlestumor microenvironment

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