Short peptide-based smart targeted cancer nanotherapeutics: a glimmer of hope

摘要

Recent epidemiological data on global cancer incidences and mortality reveals cancer is the second foremost cause of death with a rate of ~ 1 in 6. In 2018, approximately 9.6 million deaths due to cancer were estimated worldwide [1]. The global cancer burden can be lessened owing to the timely detection and expedient management of cancer patients [2], Cancer has a higher probability of being cured if diagnosed at the onset and treated effectively. To date, the majority of cancer treatments in the clinical setup involve radiotherapy, surgery and administration of anticancer molecules as chemotherapy, biological therapy or hormonal therapy. However, unwanted toxic effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy lead to indiscriminate annihilation of healthy cells/noncancerous cells or cause DNA damage/mutation in nonspecific cells with faster multiplication rates in patients' bodies [3]. For example, fast dividing hematopoietic cells, hair follicles, gastrointestinal lining cells and stem cells are observed to cause idiosyncratic side effects post-chemotherapy. Furthermore, emergence of multidrug resistance down the line of chemotherapy deteriorates the quality of a cancer patient's life gradually. To overcome these limitations, targeting anticancer drugs to the tumor site precisely using smart nanoparticle (NP)-based delivery systems is an innovative approach in the field of therapeutic delivery.