Nanomedicine: A New Frontier in Alzheimer's Disease Drug Targeting.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disorder affecting elderly individuals, characterized by progressive cognitive decline leading to dementia. This review examines the challenges posed by anatomical and biochemical barriers such as the blood-brain barrier (BBB), blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB), and p-glycoproteins in delivering effective therapeutic agents to the central nervous system (CNS) for AD treatment. This article outlines the fundamental role of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) and NMDA(N-Methyl-D-Aspartate) receptor antagonists in conventional AD therapy and highlights their limitations in terms of brain-specific delivery. It delves into the intricacies of BBB and pglycoprotein-mediated efflux mechanisms that impede drug transport to the CNS. The review further discusses cutting-edge nanomedicine-based strategies, detailing their composition and mechanisms that enable effective bypassing of BBB and enhancing drug accumulation in brain tissues. Conventional therapies, namely AChEIs and NMDA receptor antagonists, have shown limited efficacy and are hindered by suboptimal brain penetration. The advent of nanotechnology-driven therapeutic delivery systems offers promising strategies to enhance CNS targeting and bioavailability, thereby addressing the shortcomings of conventional treatments. Various nanomedicines, encompassing polymeric and metallic nanoparticles (MNPs), solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs), liposomes, micelles, dendrimers, nanoemulsions, and carbon nanotubes, have been investigated for their potential in delivering anti-AD agents like AChEIs, polyphenols, curcumin, and resveratrol. These nanocarriers exhibit the ability to traverse the BBB and deliver therapeutic payloads to the brain, thereby holding immense potential for effective AD treatment and early diagnostic approaches. Notably, nanocarriers loaded with AChEIs have shown promising results in preclinical studies, exhibiting improved therapeutic efficacy and sustained release profiles. This review underscores the urgency of innovative drug delivery approaches to overcome barriers in AD therapy. Nanomedicine-based solutions offer a promising avenue for achieving effective CNS targeting, enabling enhanced bioavailability and sustained therapeutic effects. As ongoing research continues to elucidate the complexities of CNS drug delivery, these advancements hold great potential for revolutionizing AD treatment and diagnosis.

Nanotechnology-mediated delivery of resveratrol as promising strategy to improve therapeutic efficacy in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC): progress and promises.

INTRODUCTION: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) presents unique challenges in diagnosis and treatment. Resveratrol exhibits potential as a therapeutic intervention against TNBC by regulating various pathways such as the PI3K/AKT, RAS/RAF/ERK, PKCδ, and AMPK, leading to apoptosis through ROS-mediated CHOP activationand the expression of DR4 and DR5. However, the clinical efficacy of resveratrol is limited due to its poor biopharmaceutical characteristics and low bioavailability at the tumor site. Nanotechnology offers a promising approach to improving the biopharmaceutical characteristics of resveratrol to achieve clinical efficacy in different cancers. The small dimension (<200 nm) of nanotechnology-mediated drug delivery system is helpful to improve the bioavailability, internalization into the TNBC cell, ligand-specific targeted delivery of loaded resveratrol to tumor site including reversal of MDR (multi-drug resistance) condition. AREAS COVERED: This manuscript provides a comprehensive discussion on the structure-activity relationship (SAR), underlying anticancer mechanism, evidence of anticancer activity in in-vitro/in-vivo investigations, and the significance of nanotechnology-mediated delivery of resveratrol in TNBC. EXPERT OPINION: Advanced nano-formulations of resveratrol such as oxidized mesoporous carbon nanoparticles, macrophage-derived vesicular system, functionalized gold nanoparticles, etc. have increased the accumulation of loaded therapeutics at the tumor-site, and avoid off-target drug release. In conclusion, nano-resveratrol as a strategy may provide improved tumor-specific image-guided treatment options for TNBC utilizing theranostic approach.

Phytochemicals as potential inhibitors of interleukin-8 for anticancer therapy: in silico evaluation and molecular dynamics analysis.

Within the realm of soluble factors that have emerged as potential targets for therapeutic intervention, the chemokine interleukin-8 (IL-8) has garnered attention as a potential contributor to treatment responses in various cancer types. The utilization of naturally occurring anticancer compounds for treating cancer patients has shown substantial advancements in survival rates across early and advanced stages of the disease. In silico research findings provide support for the application of phytochemicals as potential inhibitors of IL-8, and phytochemicals exhibiting a high binding free energy and crucial interactions display promising anticancer properties, positioning them as candidates for future drug development. Noteworthy phytochemicals such as IMPHY006634 (Isohydnocarpin), IMPHY007957 (Chitranone) and IMPHY013015 (1-Hydroxyrutaecarpine) were predicted to possess inhibitory activity against IL-8, with calculated energies ranging from -9.9 to -9.1 kcal/mol, respectively. Several hydrogen bonds, including common amino acid residues Lys9 and CYS48, were identified. Molecular dynamics calculations conducted on these potent inhibitors demonstrated their stability throughout a 200 ns simulation, as indicated by metrics such as RMSD, RMSF, Rg, SASA, H-bonds, PCA and FEL analysis. Moreover, PASS analysis and adherence of these natural compounds to drug-likeness rules like Lipinski's further strengthen their candidacy. Considering these calculations and various parameters, these three prominent natural compounds emerge as promising candidates for anti-IL-8 therapy in the management of cancer.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Nanomaterials-Based Novel Immune Strategies in Clinical Translation for Cancer Therapy.

Immunotherapy shows a lot of promise for addressing the problems with traditional cancer treatments. Researchers and clinicians are working to create innovative immunological techniques for cancer detection and treatment that are more selective and have lower toxicity. An emerging field in cancer therapy, immunomodulation offers patients an alternate approach to treating cancer. These therapies use the host's natural defensive systems to identify and remove malignant cells in a targeted manner. Cancer treatment is now undergoing somewhat of a revolution due to recent developments in nanotechnology. Diverse nanomaterials (NMs) have been employed to overcome the limits of conventional anti-cancer treatments such as cytotoxic, surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Aside from that, NMs could interact with live cells and influence immune responses. In contrast, unexpected adverse effects such as necrosis, hypersensitivity, and inflammation might result from the immune system (IS)'s interaction with NMs. Therefore, to ensure the efficacy of immunomodulatory nanomaterials, it is essential to have a comprehensive understanding of the intricate interplay that exists between the IS and NMs. This review intends to present an overview of the current achievements, challenges, and improvements in using immunomodulatory nanomaterials (iNMs) for cancer therapy, with an emphasis on elucidating the mechanisms involved in the interaction between NMs and the immune system of the host.

Immunomodulatory effect of mushrooms and their bioactive compounds in cancer: A comprehensive review.

Despite enormous development in the field of drug development, cancer still remains elusive. Compromised immunity stands as a roadblock to the successful pharmacological execution of anti-cancer drugs used clinically currently. Recently some breakthrough cancer treatment strategy like nano-formulation, extracellular vesicles treatment, natural antioxidant therapy, targeted immunotherapy, gene therapy, thermal ablation and magnetic hyperthermia, and pathomics and radiomics has been developed and tested pre-clinically as well as clinically. However, clinical efficacy of such therapies is yet to establish and some are too costly to be utilized by patients from poor and developing countries. At this juncture, researchers are heading towards the search of medicines from natural sources that is higher safety margin and multitarget pharmacological efficacy compared to conventional treatments. Mushroom is used traditionally as food as well as drug since time immemorial due to its immunomodulatory effect which is loaded with proteins, low fat content and cholesterol. Mushrooms are recommended as one of the best vegetarian diets for immunosuppressed cancer and HIV/AIDS patients. Mushrooms are well-known for their anti-cancer activity that impacts hematopoietic stem cells, lymphocytes, macrophages, T cells, dendritic cells (DCs), and natural killer (NK) cells in the immune system. This comprehensive review article emphasizes on the molecular mechanisms of cancer genesis, conventional anti-cancer therapy as well as reported some significant breakthrough in anti-cancer drug development, anti-cancer activity of some selected species of mushrooms and their bioactive phytoconstituents followed by a brief discussion of recent anti-cancer efficacy of some metallic nanoparticles loaded with mushrooms.

Development of a Curcumin-Loaded Lecithin/Chitosan Nanoparticle Utilizing a Box-Behnken Design of Experiment: Formulation Design and Influence of Process Parameters.

Curcumin (CUR) has impressive pharmacologic properties, including cardioprotective, neuroprotective, antimicrobial, and anticancer activity. However, the pharmaceutical application of CUR is limited due to its poor aqueous solubility and low bioavailability. The development of novel formulations has attracted considerable attention to the idea of applying nanobiotechnology to improve the therapeutic efficacy of these challenging compounds. In this study, CUR-loaded lecithin−chitosan nanoparticles (CUR/LCSNPs) were developed and optimized by the concentration of chitosan, lecithin, and stirring speed by a 3-factorial Box-Behnken statistical design, resulting in an optimal concentration of chitosan (A) and lecithin (B) with a 1200 rpm stirring speed (C), with applied constraints of minimal average particle size (Y1), optimal zeta potential (Y2), and maximum entrapment efficiency (%EE) (Y3). The mean particle size of the checkpoint formulation ranged from 136.44 ± 1.74 nm to 267.94 ± 3.72, with a zeta potential of 18.5 ± 1.39 mV to 36.8 ± 3.24 mV and %EE of 69.84 ± 1.51% to 78.50 ± 2.11%. The mean particle size, zeta potential, %EE, and % cumulative drug release from the optimized formulation were 138.43 ± 2.09 nm, +18.98 ± 0.72 mV, 77.39 ± 1.70%, and 86.18 ± 1.5%, respectively. In vitro drug release followed the Korsmeyer−Peppas model with Fickian diffusion (n < 0.45). The optimized technique has proven successful, resulting in a nanoformulation that can be used for the high loading and controlled release of lipophilic drugs.

Receptor-Targeted Surface-Engineered Nanomaterials for Breast Cancer Imaging and Theranostic Applications.

Breast cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers in women and the major cause of worldwide cancer-related deaths among women. Various treatment strategies including conventional chemotherapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy, gene silencing and deliberately engineered nanomaterials for receptor mediated targeted delivery of anticancer drugs, antibodies, and small-molecule inhibitors, etc are being investigated by scientists to combat breast cancer. Smartly designed/fabricated nanomaterials are being explored to target breast cancer through enhanced permeation and retention effect; and also, being conjugated with suitable ligand for receptor-mediated endocytosis to target breast cancer for diagnostic, and theranostic applications. These receptor-targeted nanomedicines have shown efficacy to target specific tumor tissue/cells abstaining the healthy tissues/cells from cytotoxic effect of anticancer drug molecules. In the last few decades, theranostic nanomedicines have gained much attention among other nanoparticle systems due to their unique ability to deliver chemotherapeutic as well as diagnostic agents, simultaneously. Theranostic nanomaterials are emerging as novel paradigm with ability for concurrent delivery of imaging (with contrasting agents), targeting (with biomarkers), and anticancer therapeutics with one delivery system (as cancer theranostics) and can transpire as promising strategy to overcome various hurdles for effective management of breast cancer including its most aggressive form, triple-negative breast cancer.

Emerging advances in nanomedicine for breast cancer immunotherapy: opportunities and challenges.

Breast cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer-related morbidity and mortality in women worldwide. Early diagnosis and an appropriate therapeutic approach for all cancers are climacterics for a favorable prognosis. Targeting the immune system in breast cancer is already a clinical reality with notable successes, specifically with checkpoint blockade antibodies and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy. However, there have been inevitable setbacks in the clinical application of cancer immunotherapy, including inadequate immune responses due to insufficient delivery of immunostimulants to immune cells and uncontrolled immune system modulation. Rapid advancements and new evidence have suggested that nanomedicine-based immunotherapy may be a viable option for treating breast cancer.

Cancer that begins in the breast is referred to as breast cancer. It may originate in either one or both breasts. It is one of the main causes of cancer-related death among women worldwide. Cancer immunotherapy is a game-changing treatment that improves the ability of the host defense system to spot and eliminate cancer cells with pinpoint accuracy. Cancer immunotherapy, also referred to as immuno-oncology, is a type of treatment option for breast cancer that uses the body's natural defense system to prevent, regulate and eliminate breast cancer. Immunotherapy is used to enhance or alter the functioning of the immune system so that it can locate and destroy cancer cells. Knowing how immunotherapy works and what to anticipate can often offer peace of mind to the patient who can then make informed decisions about care, especially if immunotherapy is part of the treatment plan for a particular patient.

Plant-Based Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles and Theranostic Applications: A Review.

Bionanotechnology is a branch of science that has revolutionized modern science and technology. Nanomaterials, especially noble metals, have attracted researchers due to their size and application in different branches of sciences that benefit humanity. Metal nanoparticles can be synthesized using green methods, which are good for the environment, economically viable, and facilitate synthesis. Due to their size and form, gold nanoparticles have become significant. Plant materials are of particular interest in the synthesis and manufacture of theranostic gold nanoparticles (NPs), which have been generated using various materials. On the other hand, chemically produced nanoparticles have several drawbacks in terms of cost, toxicity, and effectiveness. A plant-mediated integration of metallic nanoparticles has been developed in the field of nanotechnology to overcome the drawbacks of traditional synthesis, such as physical and synthetic strategies. Nanomaterials' tunable features make them sophisticated tools in the biomedical platform, especially for developing new diagnostics and therapeutics for malignancy, neurodegenerative, and other chronic disorders. Therefore, this review outlines the theranostic approach, the different plant materials utilized in theranostic applications, and future directions based on current breakthroughs in these fields.

Recent Advances in Theranostic Applications of Nanomaterials in Cancer.

Early detection and accurate monitoring are two critical factors affecting the outcome of anticancer therapy. However, both these factors are affected by the limitations of conventional approaches of diagnosis and treatment. Nanomedicine has progressively offered a scientific solution in improved delivery and better diagnosis of various cancers, thus providing a targeted treatment approach. With the advances in the field, simultaneous delivery and diagnosis are becoming a reality. The present manuscript discusses various drug delivery challenges, provides the scope for theranostic nanomaterials in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The clinical and translational potential of theranostic nanomedicine and the future directions for further research are also presented in the manuscript.

Receptor-Mediated Targeted Delivery of Surface-ModifiedNanomedicine in Breast Cancer: Recent Update and Challenges.

Breast cancer therapeutic intervention continues to be ambiguous owing to the lack of strategies for targeted transport and receptor-mediated uptake of drugs by cancer cells. In addition to this, sporadic tumor microenvironment, prominent restrictions with conventional chemotherapy, and multidrug-resistant mechanisms of breast cancer cells possess a big challenge to even otherwise optimal and efficacious breast cancer treatment strategies. Surface-modified nanomedicines can expedite the cellular uptake and delivery of drug-loaded nanoparticulate constructs through binding with specific receptors overexpressed aberrantly on the tumor cell. The present review elucidates the interesting yet challenging concept of targeted delivery approaches by exploiting different types of nanoparticulate systems with multiple targeting ligands to target overexpressed receptors of breast cancer cells. The therapeutic efficacy of these novel approaches in preclinical models is also comprehensively discussed in this review. It is concluded from critical analysis of related literature that insight into the translational gap between laboratories and clinical settings would provide the possible future directions to plug the loopholes in the process of development of these receptor-targeted nanomedicines for the treatment of breast cancer.

Recent Progress in Lipid Nanoparticles for Cancer Theranostics: Opportunity and Challenges.

Cancer is one of the major leading causes of mortality in the world. The implication of nanotherapeutics in cancer has garnered splendid attention owing to their capability to efficiently address various difficulties associated with conventional drug delivery systems such as non-specific biodistribution, poor efficacy, and the possibility of occurrence of multi-drug resistance. Amongst a plethora of nanocarriers for drugs, this review emphasized lipidic nanocarrier systems for delivering anticancer therapeutics because of their biocompatibility, safety, high drug loading and capability to simultaneously carrying imaging agent and ligands as well. Furthermore, to date, the lack of interaction between diagnosis and treatment has hampered the efforts of the nanotherapeutic approach alone to deal with cancer effectively. Therefore, a novel paradigm with concomitant imaging (with contrasting agents), targeting (with biomarkers), and anticancer agent being delivered in one lipidic nanocarrier system (as cancer theranostics) seems to be very promising in overcoming various hurdles in effective cancer treatment. The major obstacles that are supposed to be addressed by employing lipidic theranostic nanomedicine include nanomedicine reach to tumor cells, drug internalization in cancer cells for therapeutic intervention, off-site drug distribution, and uptake via the host immune system. A comprehensive account of recent research updates in the field of lipidic nanocarrier loaded with therapeutic and diagnostic agents is covered in the present article. Nevertheless, there are notable hurdles in the clinical translation of the lipidic theranostic nanomedicines, which are also highlighted in the present review along with plausible countermeasures.

Advancement in design of nanostructured lipid carriers for cancer targeting and theranostic application.

BACKGROUND: Cancer development is associated with abnormal, uncontrolled cell growth and causes significant economic and social burdens to society. The global statistics of different cancers have been increasing because of the aging population, and the increasing prevalence of risk factors such as stress condition, overweight, changing reproductive patterns, and smoking. The prognosis of cancer treatment is high, if diagnosed in the early stage. Late-stage diagnosis, however, is still a big challenge for the clinician. The usual treatment scheme involves chemotherapy and surgery followed by radiotherapy. SCOPE OF REVIEW: Chemotherapy is the most widely used therapeutic approach against cancer. However, it suffers from the major limitation of poor delivery of anticancer therapeutics to specific cancer-targeted tissues/cells. MAJOR CONCLUSIONS: Nanomedicines, particularly nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) can improve the efficacy of encapsulated payload either through an active or passive targeting approach against different cancers. The targeted nanomedicine can be helpful in transporting drug carriers to the specifically tumor-targeted tissue/cells while sparing abstaining from the healthy tissue/cells. The active targeting utilizes the binding of a specific cancer ligand to the surface of the NLCs, which improves the therapeutic efficacy and safety of the cancer therapeutics. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: This review shed light on the utilization of NLCs system for targeted therapy in different cancers. Furthermore, modification of NLCs as cancer theranostics is a recent advancement that is also discussed in the manuscript with a review of contemporary research carried out in this field.

Molecular Targets and Nanoparticulate Systems Designed for the Improved Therapeutic Intervention in Glioblastoma Multiforme.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most aggressive and fatal CNS related tumors, which is responsible for about 4% of cancer-related deaths. Current GBM therapy includes surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. The effective chemotherapy of GBM is compromised by two barriers, i. e., the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the blood tumor barrier (BTB). Therefore, novel therapeutic approaches are needed. Nanoparticles are one of the highly efficient drug delivery systems for a variety of chemotherapeutics that have gained massive attention from the last three decades. Perfectly designed nanoparticles have the ability to cross BBB and BTB and precisely deliver the chemotherapeutics to GBM tissue/cells. Nanoparticles can encapsulate both hydrophilic and lipophilic drugs, genes, proteins, and peptides, increase the stability of drugs by protecting them from degradation, improve plasma half-life, reduce adverse effects and control the release of drugs/genes at the desired site. This review focussed on the different signaling pathways altered in GBM cells to understand the rationale behind selecting new therapeutic targets, challenges in the drug delivery to the GBM, various transport routes in brain delivery, and recent advances in targeted delivery of different drug and gene loaded various lipidic, polymeric and inorganic nanoparticles in the effective management of GBM.

Emerging advances in synthetic cancer nano-vaccines: opportunities and challenges.

Introduction: Cancer immunotherapy is a fast-growing field that has achieved tremendous progress in recent years. It is one of the most potent tools that can activate the immune system against cancer. Nevertheless, the development of safe and effective vaccines to overcome emerging new disease remains challenging since several emerging antigens are poorly immunogenic. Nanotechnology has provided a realistic resolution for the drawback of traditional cancer immunotherapy. Area covered: This review discusses different cancer immunotherapy approaches focusing on recent advancements in nanomedicine-based cancer immunotherapy. The literature review method includes inclusion and exclusion criteria to categorize important articles. The literature survey was carried out using PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and the Saudi digital library. Expert opinion: In the last two decades, the development and application of nanoparticles incorporating antigen/adjuvant in cancer immunotherapy have experienced rapid growth. Soon, progressively multifaceted nanovaccines presenting different antigens and co-delivered with antigens will be clinically translated. Better understanding and improved knowledge of nanomedicines-based delivery approaches and immunostimulatory action, and in-vivo biodistribution would inevitably facilitate the altruistic design of cancer nanovaccine for humankind.

Co-Delivery of Imiquimod and Curcumin by Nanoemugel for Improved Topical Delivery and Reduced Psoriasis-Like Skin Lesions.

The current investigation aimed to improve the topical efficacy of imiquimod in combination with curcumin using the nanoemulsion-based delivery system through a combinatorial approach. Co-delivery of curcumin acts as an adjuvant therapeutic and to minimize the adverse skin reactions that are frequently associated with the topical therapy of imiquimod for the treatment of cutaneous infections and basal cell carcinomas. The low-energy emulsification method was used for the nano-encapsulation of imiquimod and curcumin in the nanodroplet oil phase, which was stabilized using Tween 20 in an aqueous dispersion system. The weak base property of imiquimod helped to increase its solubility in oleic acid compared with ethyl oleate, which indicates that fatty acids should be preferred as the oil phase for the design of imiquimod-loaded topical nanoemulsion compared with fatty acid esters. The phase diagram method was used to optimize the percentage composition of the nanoemulsion formulation. The mean droplet size of the optimized nanoemulsion was 76.93 nm, with a polydispersity index (PdI) value of 0.121 and zeta potential value of -20.5 mV. The optimized imiquimod-loaded nanoemulsion was uniformly dispersed in carbopol 934 hydrogel to develop into a nanoemulgel delivery system. The imiquimod nanoemulgel exhibited significant improvement (p<0.05) in skin permeability and deposition profile after topical application. The in vivo effectiveness of the combination of imiquimod and curcumin nanoemulgel was compared to the imiquimod nanoemulgel and imiquimod gel formulation through topical application for ten days in BALB/c mice. The combination of curcumin with imiquimod in the nanoemulgel system prevented the appearance of psoriasis-like symptoms compared with the imiquimod nanoemulgel and imiquimod gel formulation entirely. Further, the imiquimod nanoemulgel as a mono-preparation slowed and reduced the psoriasis-like skin reaction when compared with the conventional imiquimod gel, and that was contributed to by the control release property of the nano-encapsulation approach.

Omega-3 fatty acids as adjunctive therapeutics: prospective of nanoparticles in its formulation development.

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-3-PUFAs) are dietary components that have been extensively recognized for their therapeutic value and have shown diverse therapeutic effects including anti-inflammatory, antiarrhythmic, antithrombotic, immunomodulatory and antineoplastic activities. Most of the ω-3-PUFAs are obtained through diet or supplements because the body does not synthesize them. The high instability of ω-3-PUFAs to oxidative deterioration, lower bioavailability at the target tissues and reduced bioactivity of ω-3-PUFAs is an impediment for achieving their therapeutic potential. The present review provides an overview of potential therapeutic activities of ω-3-PUFAs and different novel technical approaches based on nanotechnology, which have been emphasized to overcome instability problems as well as enhance the bioactivity of ω-3-PUFAs. Future prospects related to this area of research are also provided.

Progress in nanotechnology-based drug carrier in designing of curcumin nanomedicines for cancer therapy: current state-of-the-art.

Comprehensive pharmacological screening of curcumin (CUR) has given the evidence that it is an excellent naturally occurring therapeutic moiety for cancer. It is very well tolerated with insignificant toxicity even after high doses of oral administration. Irrespective of its better quality as an anticancer agent, therapeutic application of CUR is hampered by its extremely low-aqueous solubility and poor bioavailability, rapid clearance and low-cellular uptake. A simple means of breaking up the restrictive factor of CUR is to perk-up its aqueous solubility, improve its bioavailability, protect it from degradation, and metabolism and potentiate its targeting capacity towards the cancer cell. The development in the field of nanomedicine has made excellent progresses toward enhancing the bioavailability of lipophilic drugs like CUR. Nanoparticles (NPs) are capable to deliver the CUR at specific area and thereby prevent it from physiological degradation and systemic clearance. In recent year, an assortment of nanomedicine-based novel drug delivery system has been designed to potentiate the bioavailability of CUR towards anticancer therapy. In this review, we discuss the recent development in the field of nanoCUR (NanoCur), including polymeric micelles, liposome, polymeric NPs, nanoemulsion, nanosuspension, solid lipid NPs (SLNPs), polymer conjugates, nanogel, etc. in anticancer application.

Nanotechnology-based inhalation treatments for lung cancer: state of the art.

Considering the challenges associated with conventional chemotherapy, targeted and local delivery of chemotherapeutics via nanoparticle (NP) carriers to the lungs is an emerging area of interest. Recent studies and growing clinical application in cancer nanotechnology showed the huge potential of NPs as drug carriers in cancer therapy, including in lung carcinoma for diagnosis, imaging, and theranostics. Researchers have confirmed that nanotechnology-based inhalation chemotherapy is viable and more effective than conventional chemotherapy, with lesser side effects. Recently, many nanocarriers have been investigated, including liposomes, polymeric micelles, polymeric NPs, solid lipid NPs, and inorganic NPs for inhalation treatments of lung cancer. Yet, the toxicity of such nanomaterials to the lungs tissues and further distribution to other organs due to systemic absorption on inhalation delivery is a debatable concern. Here, prospect of NPs-based local lung cancer targeting through inhalation route as well as its associated challenges are discussed.

Solid Matrix Based Lipidic Nanoparticles in Oral Cancer Chemotherapy: Applications and Pharmacokinetics.

Chemotherapeutic delivery by oral route in cancer patients has the potential to create "hospitalization free chemotherapy" which is a vision of oncologists, formulation scientists and patients. Such a therapeutic approach will improve patients' compliance, ease the burden of the patients' caregivers and significantly reduce the cost of treatment. In current clinical practice, chemotherapy carried out by intravenous injection or infusion leads to undesired side-effects such as plasma concentrations crossing the maximum safe concentration, rapid body clearance and lower bioavailability. Despite the presence of challenges such as poor aqueous solubility and stability of drugs and the presence of biological barriers like multidrug efflux transporter in the GI tract, oral cancer chemotherapy has the potential to surmount those obstacles. Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) such as solid lipid nanoparticle, nanostructured lipid carriers, nano lipid-drug conjugates, mixed micelles, liposomes and nanoemulsions have shown some promising results for use in oral anticancer drug delivery through nanotechnological approach. LNPs demonstrate enhanced oral bioavailability owing to their ability to inhibit first pass metabolism via lymphatic absorption by chylomicron-linked and/or M-cell uptake. LNPs reduce the inter- and intrasubject pharmacokinetics variability of administrated drugs. Moreover, certain classes of phospholipids and surfactants used in the formulations of LNPs can suppress the P-glycoprotein efflux system. Here, we shall be discussing the biopharmaceutical challenges in oral cancer chemotherapy and how the LNPs may provide solutions to such challenges. The effect of GI tract environment on LNPs and pharmacokinetics shall also be discussed.