Progress and Principle of Drug Nanocrystals for Tumor Targeted Delivery

Meng Bai, Mingshi Yang, Junbo Gong, Hui Xu, Zhenping Wei*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReviewResearchpeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Drugs are referred to as drug nanocrystals when they exist as nanoscale crystal structures. This kind of nanocarrier has been widely utilized to increase the solubility and absorption for poorly aqueous soluble drugs after oral administration, or prolong the drug circulation when intravenous administration. The systemic cytotoxicity caused by antitumor drugs usually come from the nonspecific drug distribution. To solve the disadvantage of poor targetability, drug nanocrystals for tumor targeted delivery have been developed in recent years. In this review, the targeting mechanisms of various surface modified drug nanocrystals are introduced with the focus on passive targeting, active targeting and stimuli-responsive targeting in details. Function and application of common surface modified materials are also discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Article number41
JournalAAPS PharmSciTech
Volume23
Issue number1
Number of pages21
ISSN1530-9932
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Keywords

  • drug nanocrystals
  • drug targeted delivery
  • active targeting stimulating response
  • surface modification

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