Nanomedicine applications in the treatment of breast cancer: current state of the art

Int J Nanomedicine. 2017 Aug 16:12:5879-5892. doi: 10.2147/IJN.S123437. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common malignant disease in women worldwide, but the current drug therapy is far from optimal as indicated by the high death rate of breast cancer patients. Nanomedicine is a promising alternative for breast cancer treatment. Nanomedicine products such as Doxil® and Abraxane® have already been extensively used for breast cancer adjuvant therapy with favorable clinical outcomes. However, these products were originally designed for generic anticancer purpose and not specifically for breast cancer treatment. With better understanding of the molecular biology of breast cancer, a number of novel promising nanotherapeutic strategies and devices have been developed in recent years. In this review, we will first give an overview of the current breast cancer treatment and the updated status of nanomedicine use in clinical setting, then discuss the latest important trends in designing breast cancer nanomedicine, including passive and active cancer cell targeting, breast cancer stem cell targeting, tumor microenvironment-based nanotherapy and combination nanotherapy of drug-resistant breast cancer. Researchers may get insight from these strategies to design and develop nanomedicine that is more tailored for breast cancer to achieve further improvements in cancer specificity, antitumorigenic effect, antimetastasis effect and drug resistance reversal effect.

Keywords: breast cancer; drug resistance; drug therapy; nanomedicine; targeted delivery; tumor microenvironment.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Albumin-Bound Paclitaxel / therapeutic use
  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology
  • Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Doxorubicin / administration & dosage
  • Doxorubicin / analogs & derivatives
  • Doxorubicin / therapeutic use
  • Drug Delivery Systems / methods*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Molecular Targeted Therapy / methods
  • Nanomedicine / methods*
  • Neoplastic Stem Cells / drug effects
  • Polyethylene Glycols / administration & dosage
  • Polyethylene Glycols / therapeutic use
  • Receptor, ErbB-2 / metabolism
  • Tumor Microenvironment

Substances

  • Albumin-Bound Paclitaxel
  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • liposomal doxorubicin
  • Polyethylene Glycols
  • Doxorubicin
  • ERBB2 protein, human
  • Receptor, ErbB-2