Chitosan-Based Nanoparticles with Optimized Parameters for Targeted Delivery of a Specific Anticancer Drug—A Comprehensive Review

Chitosan is a positively charged polysaccharide obtained through chitin deacetylation. It belongs to a group of biodegradable, bioavailable, and non-toxic materials of natural origin; thus, it is a promising matrix for creating delivery systems of different active agents. Recently, much attention has been paid to nanodelivery systems as carriers to enable better bioavailability, and thus higher efficiency of the loaded drug. The present review is focused on the progress in chitosan-based nanoparticles for the targeted delivery of antitumor drugs. The paper discusses literature reports from the last three years in which chitosan nanoparticles were applied as carriers for active substances used in antitumor therapy and potential new drugs with anticancer properties. Special attention was paid to the different treatments applied to increase the therapeutic effectiveness and minimize the side effects of a specific active substance.

Introduction

The needs of the modern world drive the search for new materials applied in various areas of life. Environmental pollution and activities aimed at developing green chemistry stimulate significant interest in materials of natural origin. An undoubted advantage of materials obtained from natural sources is their availability. This can sometimes result in lower cost, compared to those obtained by synthesis. Nevertheless, their practical use is determined mainly by specific parameters that must be met by a given material dedicated to a certain application. Particularly high requirements are placed on biomedical materials. Their biodegradability, biocompatibility, and low toxicity are crucial to finding such applications. A significant group that meets these conditions are biopolymers, among which polysaccharides are one of the most important families [1,2,3].

Polysaccharides, composed of different monosaccharides combined by glycosidic bonds, are characterized by several reactive functional groups capable of chemical modification. Their unique properties are often used in drug delivery systems’ (DDSs) design. DDSs are an alternative to traditional forms of drug administration. They are designed to reduce the toxicity of the active substance and its side effects and increase the drug’s effectiveness by protecting the active substance delivered to the target environment. This type of solution is particularly desirable for drugs used in cancer therapy.

Based on The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and Global Cancer Data (GLOBOCAN 2020), nearly 10 million deaths caused by cancer were registered in 2020 (over 4 million in Asia and about 1 million in Europe). Global cancer mortality is often analyzed using age-standardized rate, ASR (per 100,000 population). The highest cancer mortality for both sexes was in Mongolia (175.9), while in separate sexes—it was in Zimbabwe (142.9 women) and Mongolia (224.3 men).The most significant number of new cases (out of all 18.1 million) concerned breast (the most common in women) and lung (the most common in men) cancer (over 2 million each), colon and rectum, prostate, skin, and stomach cancer (over 1 million each) [4]. Treatment procedures include three elements, i.e., surgery, radiotherapy, and systemic therapy (including chemotherapy, hormonal treatment, and targeted biological therapies). Chemotherapy involves the long-term use of highly toxic active substances, e.g., doxorubicin or paclitaxel. The number of literature reports on new potential DDSs for anticancer drugs indicates that effective materials dedicated to such applications include various groups of compounds. Nevertheless, polysaccharide biopolymers’ well-known and desirable properties make them particularly useful in this application. One of the commonly used biopolymers as the basis for drug carriers, including anticancer drugs, is chitosan (CS).

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Kurczewska, J. Chitosan-Based Nanoparticles with Optimized Parameters for Targeted Delivery of a Specific Anticancer Drug—A Comprehensive Review. Pharmaceutics 2023, 15, 503. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics15020503

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