A Review on Drug Delivery Systems Containing Polymer Nanocomposites for Breast Cancer Treatment

Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common malignant cancers among women and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Conventional treatments for BC are effective; however, they have several drawbacks, such as poor bioavailability and substantial side effects. On the other hand, using drug delivery systems (DDSs) have numerous benefits, such as suitable cancer targeting, reduced side effects, and controlled drug release. In recent years, DDSs have become a hotspot for the delivery of anti-BC drugs. The purpose of this review is to explore the progress of recent research on anti-BC drugs and the applications of polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) as DDSs for the treatment of BC. Moreover, this review summarizes important advances in the synthesis, preparation, and application of PNCs, using various nanomaterials and polymers, as nanocarriers for the treatment of BC. The challenges and opportunities associated with future clinical applications of PNCs in the treatment of BC are discussed.

Keywords:

• Polymer nanocomposite
• drug carriers
• breast cancer
• drug delivery systems
• controlled release

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2022R1 A2C1 004437).