Targeted Drug Delivery Systems for Curcumin in Breast Cancer Therapy

Abstract

Mian Huang,1 Bing-Tao Zhai,1,2 Yu Fan,3 Jing Sun,1 Ya-Jun Shi,1 Xiao-Fei Zhang,1 Jun-Bo Zou,1 Jia-Wen Wang,1 Dong-Yan Guo1,4 1School of Pharmacy, Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xi’an, 712046, People’s Republic of China; 2State Key Laboratory of Research & Development of Characteristic Qin Medicine Resources (Cultivation), Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xi’an, 712046, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Basic Medicine, Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xi’an, 712046, People’s Republic of China; 4Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Fundamentals and New Drugs Research, Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xi’an, 712046, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Dong-Yan Guo, Email [email protected]: Breast cancer (BC) is the most prevalent type of cancer in the world and the main reason women die from cancer. Due to the significant side effects of conventional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the search for supplemental and alternative natural drugs with lower toxicity and side effects is of interest to researchers. Curcumin (CUR) is a natural polyphenol extracted from turmeric. Numerous studies have demonstrated that CUR is an effective anticancer drug that works by modifying different intracellular signaling pathways. CUR’s therapeutic utility is severely constrained by its short half-life in vivo, low water solubility, poor stability, quick metabolism, low oral bioavailability, and potential for gastrointestinal discomfort with high oral doses. One of the most practical solutions to the aforementioned issues is the development of targeted drug delivery systems (TDDSs) based on nanomaterials. To improve drug targeting and efficacy and to serve as a reference for the development and use of CUR TDDSs in the clinical setting, this review describes the physicochemical properties and bioavailability of CUR and its mechanism of action on BC, with emphasis on recent studies on TDDSs for BC in combination with CUR, including passive TDDSs, active TDDSs and physicochemical TDDSs.Keywords: breast cancer, curcumin, targeted drug delivery system, passive targeting, active targeting, physicochemical targeting

Keywords

• breast cancer
• curcumin
• targeted drug delivery system
• passive targeting
• active targeting
• physicochemical targeting