Designing a better theranostic nanocarrier for cancer applications

• Published in: Nanomedicine (London, England) Vol. 9; no. 15; pp. 2371 - 2386
• Main Authors: Nguyen, Trinh, Tekrony, Amy, Yaehne, Kristin, Cramb, David T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Future Medicine Ltd 01.10.2014; Future Medicine
• Subjects: Antineoplastic Agents - administration & dosage; Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; biological barriers; Cancer; Care and treatment; Cell death; chorioallantoic membrane; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Diagnosis; Drug Carriers; Exact sciences and technology; exogenous and endogenous triggered drug release; Health aspects; Humans; Liposomes; Materials science; Medical sciences; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Nanotechnology; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Physics; protein corona; theranostic nanocarrier; Therapeutics; Treatment. General aspects; Tumors; Control release polymer; protein corona; Drug carrier; biological barriers; Theranostics; Nanoparticles; Animals; Reviews; Chorioallantoic membrane; theranostic nanocarrier; Chickens; Mice; Nanomedicine; Nanotechnology; exogenous and endogenous triggered drug release; Cancer; Stimuli; chorioallantoic membrane
• ISSN: 1743-5889; 1748-6963
• DOI: 10.2217/nnm.14.110

Nanocarriers show incredible potential in theranostic applications as they offer diagnostic capabilities along with the ability to encapsulate and protect drugs from degradation, be functionalized with targeting moieties and be designed with controlled release mechanisms. Most clinically approved nanocarrier drugs are liposomal formulations. As such, considerable research has been directed towards designing liposomal carriers that can release their payloads via exogenous or endogenous triggers. For triggered release to effectively increase drug bioavailability, nanocarriers must first accumulate at the tumor site via the enhanced retention and permeability effect. It has been demonstrated in the chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane and murine xenografted models that nanoparticle surface charge and geometry, with respect to vascular endothelium fenestration size, drive this accumulation in angiogenic tissue.