Nanomedicine in Cancer Therapeutics: Current Perspectives from Bench to Bedside

Siegel RL, Kratzer TB, Giaquinto AN, Sung H, Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2025. CA Cancer J Clin. 2025;75:10–45.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Peng W, Shi M, Hu B, Jia J, Li X, Wang N, Man S, Ye S, Ma L. Nanotechnology-leveraged CRISPR/Cas systems: icebreaking in trace cancer-related nucleic acids biosensing. Mol Cancer. 2025;24:78.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

Sung H, Ferlay J, Siegel RL, Laversanne M, Soerjomataram I, Jemal A, Bray F. Global Cancer Statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN Estimates of Incidence and Mortality Worldwide for 36 Cancers in 185 Countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2021;71:209–49.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Gotwals P, Cameron S, Cipolletta D, Cremasco V, Crystal A, Hewes B, Mueller B, Quaratino S, Sabatos-Peyton C, Petruzzelli L, et al. Prospects for combining targeted and conventional cancer therapy with immunotherapy. Nat Rev Cancer. 2017;17:286–301.

Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Shi Y, Lammers T. Combining Nanomedicine and Immunotherapy. Acc Chem Res. 2019;52:1543–54.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

Maksymova L, Pilger YA, Nuhn L, Van Ginderachter JA. Nanobodies targeting the tumor microenvironment and their formulation as nanomedicines. Mol Cancer. 2025;24:65.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Fan D, Cao Y, Cao M, Wang Y, Cao Y, Gong T. Nanomedicine in cancer therapy. Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2023;8:293.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Appidi T, China D, Stefan GR, Moreau M, Mao S, Velarde E, Toyang N, Lowe H, Rengan AK, Ding K, Ngwa W. Engineered multifunctional nanoparticles for enhanced radiation therapy: three-in-one approach for cancer treatment. Mol Cancer. 2025;24:68.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

Wei G, Wang Y, Yang G, Wang Y, Ju R. Recent progress in nanomedicine for enhanced cancer chemotherapy. Theranostics. 2021;11:6370–92.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

Trushina DB, Borodina TN, Belyakov S, Antipina MN. Calcium carbonate vaterite particles for drug delivery: Advances and challenges. Mater Today Adv. 2022;14:100214.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

Cheng Y, Zhang H, Wei H, Yu CY. Injectable hydrogels as emerging drug-delivery platforms for tumor therapy. Biomater Sci. 2024;12:1151–70.

Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Mizukoshi E, Nakagawa H, Tamai T, Kitahara M, Fushimi K, Nio K, Terashima T, Iida N, Arai K, Yamashita T, et al. Peptide vaccine-treated, long-term surviving cancer patients harbor self-renewing tumor-specific CD8(+) T cells. Nat Commun. 2022;13:3123.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

Qi J, Jin F, Xu X, Du Y. Combination Cancer Immunotherapy of Nanoparticle-Based Immunogenic Cell Death Inducers and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors. Int J Nanomedicine. 2021;16:1435–56.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Bjornmalm M, Thurecht KJ, Michael M, Scott AM, Caruso F. Bridging Bio-Nano Science and Cancer Nanomedicine. ACS Nano. 2017;11:9594–613.

Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Mitchell MJ, Billingsley MM, Haley RM, Wechsler ME, Peppas NA, Langer R. Engineering precision nanoparticles for drug delivery. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2021;20:101–24.

Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Ding J, Feng M, Wang F, Wang H, Guan W. Targeting effect of PEGylated liposomes modified with the Arg-Gly-Asp sequence on gastric cancer. Oncol Rep. 2015;34:1825–34.

Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Wonder E, Simon-Gracia L, Scodeller P, Majzoub RN, Kotamraju VR, Ewert KK, Teesalu T, Safinya CR. Competition of charge-mediated and specific binding by peptide-tagged cationic liposome-DNA nanoparticles in vitro and in vivo. Biomaterials. 2018;166:52–63.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

Chang CH, Liu SY, Chi CW, Yu HL, Chang TJ, Tsai TH, Lee TW, Chen YJ. External beam radiotherapy synergizes (1)(8)(8)Re-liposome against human esophageal cancer xenograft and modulates (1)(8)(8)Re-liposome pharmacokinetics. Int J Nanomedicine. 2015;10:3641–9.

PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

Feng Y, Gao Y, Wang D, Xu Z, Sun W, Ren P. Autophagy Inhibitor (LY294002) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) Combination-Based Nanoliposome for Enhanced Efficacy Against Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Nanoscale Res Lett. 2018;13:325.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Ektate K, Munteanu MC, Ashar H, Malayer J, Ranjan A. Chemo-immunotherapy of colon cancer with focused ultrasound and Salmonella-laden temperature sensitive liposomes (thermobots). Sci Rep. 2018;8:13062.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Moghimipour E, Rezaei M, Ramezani Z, Kouchak M, Amini M, Angali KA, Dorkoosh FA, Handali S. Folic acid-modified liposomal drug delivery strategy for tumor targeting of 5-fluorouracil. Eur J Pharm Sci. 2018;114:166–74.

Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Bisht S, Schlesinger M, Rupp A, Schubert R, Nolting J, Wenzel J, Holdenrieder S, Brossart P, Bendas G, Feldmann G. A liposomal formulation of the synthetic curcumin analog EF24 (Lipo-EF24) inhibits pancreatic cancer progression: towards future combination therapies. J Nanobiotechnology. 2016;14:57.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Zhang X, Lin CC, Chan WK, Liu KL, Yang ZJ, Zhang HQ. Augmented Anticancer Effects of Cantharidin with Liposomal Encapsulation: In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation. Molecules. 2017, 22:1052.

Chang M, Wu M, Li H. Antitumor activities of novel glycyrrhetinic acid-modified curcumin-loaded cationic liposomes in vitro and in H22 tumor-bearing mice. Drug Deliv. 2018;25:1984–95.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

Nassir AM, Ibrahim IAA, Md S, Waris M. Tanuja, Ain MR, Ahmad I, Shahzad N: Surface functionalized folate targeted oleuropein nano-liposomes for prostate tumor targeting: Invitro and invivo activity. Life Sci. 2019;220:136–46.

Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Hua H, Zhang N, Liu D, Song L, Liu T, Li S, Zhao Y. Multifunctional gold nanorods and docetaxel-encapsulated liposomes for combined thermo- and chemotherapy. Int J Nanomedicine. 2017;12:7869–84.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

Blanco E, Bey EA, Khemtong C, Yang SG, Setti-Guthi J, Chen H, Kessinger CW, Carnevale KA, Bornmann WG, Boothman DA, Gao J. Beta-lapachone micellar nanotherapeutics for non-small cell lung cancer therapy. Cancer Res. 2010;70:3896–904.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

Mu CF, Balakrishnan P, Cui FD, Yin YM, Lee YB, Choi HG, Yong CS, Chung SJ, Shim CK, Kim DD. The effects of mixed MPEG-PLA/Pluronic copolymer micelles on the bioavailability and multidrug resistance of docetaxel. Biomaterials. 2010;31:2371–9.

Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Tang N, Du G, Wang N, Liu C, Hang H, Liang W. Improving penetration in tumors with nanoassemblies of phospholipids and doxorubicin. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2007;99:1004–15.

Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Tong SW, Xiang B, Dong DW, Qi XR. Enhanced antitumor efficacy and decreased toxicity by self-associated docetaxel in phospholipid-based micelles. Int J Pharm. 2012;434:413–9.

Comments (0)

No login
gif