Published May 12, 2026
| Version v1
Journal article
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A review on nanotechnology in drug delivery systems for cancer therapy
Authors/Creators
- 1. Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia|Department of Pharmacology, Al-nisour University, Baghdad, Iraq
- 2. College of Dentistry, Al-Bayan University, Baghdad, Iraq
- 3. College of Dentistry, University of Al-Ameed, Karbala, Iraq
- 4. College of Dentistry, Alzahrawi University, Karbela, Iraq
- 5. Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, Al-Zahraa University for Women, Karbala, Iraq
- 6. Department of Pharmacology, Al-nisour University, Baghdad, Iraq
- 7. Universiti Malaya Research Center for Biopharmaceuticals and Advanced Therapeutics (UBAT), Pharmacology Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Description
Background: Nanotechnology has introduced several clinically validated drug-delivery platforms that have improved pharmacokinetic profiles and reduced selected toxicities in specific cancer indications.
Materials and methods: This review was conducted by searching search engines such as Google Scholar, PubMed, and ScienceDirect using several keywords, such as "nanomedicine," "lipid-based carriers," "polymeric nanoparticles," "dendrimers," and "precision medicine." The articles on precision medicine related to targeted therapy and gene therapy, artificial intelligence, and related large language models were excluded, and publications with unreliable, unverifiable, or inaccessible data, including non-peer-reviewed sources, were also excluded.
Results: Recent advancements have also enabled the integration of diagnostic and therapeutic functions within a single nanocarrier, paving the way for theranostic applications and real-time treatment monitoring. Despite these significant achievements, challenges such as large-scale manufacturing, stability, immunogenicity, and long-term safety remain substantial barriers to clinical translation.
Conclusion: Continuous efforts to develop biocompatible, cost-effective, and personalized nanomedicine platforms are essential to transform nanotechnology-based drug delivery from an experimental concept into a reliable clinical reality that has demonstrated improved pharmacokinetics, tolerability, or clinical outcomes in selected indications, such as liposomal formulations including CPX-351 and pegylated liposomal doxorubicin.
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