Tumor microenvironment responsive drug delivery systems

Publication date: Available online 26 September 2019Source: Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical SciencesAuthor(s): Qunye He, Jun Chen, Jianhua Yan, Shundong Cai, Hongjie Xiong, Yanfei Liu, Dongming Peng, Zhenbao Liu, Miao MoAbstractConventional tumor-targeted drug delivery systems (DDSs) face challenges, such as unsatisfied systemic circulation, low targeting efficiency, poor tumoral penetration, and uncontrolled drug release. Recently, tumor cellular molecules-triggered DDSs have aroused great interests in addressing such dilemmas. With the introduction of several additional functionalities, the properties of these smart DDSs including size, surface charge and ligand exposure can response to different tumor microenvironments for a more efficient tumor targeting, and eventually achieve desired drug release for an optimized therapeutic efficiency. This review highlights the recent research progresses on smart tumor environment responsive drug delivery systems for targeted drug delivery. Dynamic targeting strategies and functional moieties sensitive to a variety of tumor cellular stimuli, including pH, glutathione, adenosine-triphosphate, reactive oxygen species, enzyme and inflammatory factors are summarized. Special emphasis of this review is placed on their responsive mechanisms, drug loading models, drawbacks and merits. Several typical multi-stimuli responsive DDSs are listed. And the main challenges and potential future development are discussed.Graphical abstract
Source: Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research