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The Tumor Microenvironment

The Tumor Microenvironment

Every normal cell or tissue is embedded in a complex local environment called stroma, consisting of different cell types, a basal membrane, and blood vessels. As normal cells mutate and develop into cancer cells, their local environment also changes to allow cancer progression. The tumor microenvironment (TME) consists of a complex cellular matrix of stromal cells and the developing tumor. The cross-talk between cancer cells and surrounding stromal cells is critical to disrupt normal tissue...

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Updated: Oct 3, 2025

Manufacture and Drug Delivery Applications of Silk Nanoparticles

Manufacture and Drug Delivery Applications of Silk Nanoparticles

Published on: October 8, 2016

Tumor microenvironment-responsive size-switchable drug delivery nanosystems.

Yue Hu¹, Shan Gao¹, Abdur Rauf Khan²

¹School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan, China.

Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery

|February 15, 2022

Summary

Smart, size-tunable nanoparticles (NPs) offer improved tumor treatment by adapting to the tumor microenvironment (TME). These nanocarriers enhance drug delivery, increasing therapeutic effects while reducing side effects for better cancer therapy.

Keywords:

Nano-drug delivery systems particle size size-switchable tumor microenvironment

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Area of Science:

Biomedical Engineering
Nanotechnology
Oncology

Background:

Conventional chemotherapy faces limitations in efficacy and side effects.
Nanoparticles (NPs) show promise for improved drug delivery compared to traditional drugs.
Tumor microenvironment (TME) characteristics offer unique opportunities for targeted drug delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

To review strategies for creating smart, size-tunable nanocarriers.
To enhance drug penetration and retention within tumors.
To leverage TME factors for advanced cancer nanomedicine.

Main Methods:

Summarizing recent research on TME-responsive nanocarriers.
Analyzing methods for achieving size-tunability in nanocarriers.
Evaluating the impact of nanocarrier design on drug delivery efficacy.

Main Results:

Size-tunable nanocarriers demonstrate enhanced drug penetration and retention in tumors.
Smart nanocarriers effectively utilize TME characteristics for targeted delivery.
Improved therapeutic outcomes and reduced side effects are observed with these advanced NPs.

Conclusions:

Nanosystems with size-tunable properties are a promising approach for cancer treatment.
Exploiting the TME is key to developing more effective nanomedicines.
Further research into smart, size-tunable nanocarriers holds significant potential for oncology.