Nanotechnology-based Therapeutic Strategies for Breast Cancer

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among women and is considered a societal burden. The current treatment strategies are limited to chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery, governed by the tumor’s size, stage, and properties of biomarkers. Nanotechnology can be used as an alternative and focused approach for treating various cancers. It provides a more effective and less toxic treatment regime than other conventional methods. It has gained enormous attention to precisely diagnose and treat cancers. Nanocarriers are ideally engineered to target the cancer cells specifically, thus improving the drug’s efficacy. They can overcome the problems associated with conventional drug delivery, non-specific to cancer cells, and have severe side effects. Since these nanocarriers have higher biocompatibility and therapeutic efficiency, they have shown promising results in cancer therapy. Although several nanocarriers are being developed and validated, only a few have been approved for clinical trials in cancer treatment. This review focuses on nanocarriers used in the drug delivery system and their applications in breast cancer treatment. The conventional biomarkers for early diagnosis of breast cancer and their molecular profiling by nanoparticles are also discussed. This review helps understand the promising use of nanoparticle-based technology in breast cancer treatment.

Keywords: Breast Cancer; Nanocarriers; Drug-delivery; Biomarkers; Liposomes; Polymeric nanoparticles