Dissolving microneedles for melanoma: Most recent updates, challenges, and future perspectives

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Biotechnology
• Dermatology

Background:

• Skin cancer affects millions globally, with conventional therapies causing significant side effects.
• Chemotherapy often harms healthy cells alongside cancerous ones.
• Dissolving microneedles (DMNs) present a novel, minimally invasive alternative for targeted drug delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review current trends and potential applications of DMNs in treating skin cancer, particularly melanoma.
• To highlight the advantages of DMNs over traditional cancer therapies.
• To explore future perspectives for DMNs in clinical settings.

Main Methods:

• Review of recent literature on DMNs for skin cancer treatment.
• Analysis of DMNs' mechanism for targeted drug, gene, and vaccine delivery.
• Evaluation of DMNs' role in eliciting immune responses against skin tumors.

Main Results:

• DMNs demonstrate targeted delivery of therapeutic agents to skin tumors.
• This approach spares healthy cells, reducing systemic and local side effects.
• Pre-clinical studies show significant reduction in cancer cell growth using DMNs.
• DMNs effectively stimulate immune responses beneficial for cancer therapy.

Conclusions:

• Dissolving microneedles show significant therapeutic potential for skin cancer, especially melanoma.
• DMNs offer a promising strategy to enhance treatment outcomes and patient quality of life.
• Further research and clinical translation are needed to fully realize the potential of DMNs.