Despite global efforts for decades, the number of cancer cases is still on the
rise. Although in recent times there has been significant improvement in
immunotherapy, chemotherapy remains standard care for cancer patients alongside
radiation and surgery. Chemotherapeutic drugs and diagnostic agents (MRI, PET,
Ultrasound) lack specificity and often suffer from poor solubility and unwanted
biodistribution. This results in unnecessary high dose requirements, systemic toxicity,
and compromised quality of life for the patients. Beside therapy, early diagnosis is
essential for the successful treatment and cure of cancer patients, just like any other
disease. Therefore, a suitable delivery vehicle is always needed for the theranostic
agents. Viral vectors are routinely used for the delivery of genetic material. But
parallelly, nanoparticles made with biodegradable, non-toxic, and non-immunogenic
polymers are often used as a carrier of chemotherapy drugs, diagnostic agents as well
as genetic materials. Once decorated with specific ligands, these nanocontainers can
deliver cargo molecules to target tissue and organs with high precision.
Keywords: Biodistribution, Cancer, Cargo, Cationic, Chemotherapy, Delivery, Diagnostic, Drug, Encapsulation, Gene, Hydrophobic, Hydrophilic, Immunotherapy, Ligand, Nanoparticle, Polymer, Receptor, Target, Toxicity, Systemic.
