Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Països Catalans 26, Campus Sescelades, 43007 Tarragona, Spain
Anna Bajek
Department of Tissue Engineering Chair of Urology, Ludwik Rydygier Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Karlowicza St. 24, 85-092 Bydgoszcz, Poland
Krzysztof Roszkowski
Department of Oncology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Romanowskiej St. 2, 85-796 Bydgoszcz, Poland
Josep M. Montornés
Eurecat, Centre Tecnològic de Catalunya. Chemical Technologies Unit, Marcel·lí Domingo s/n, 43007 Tarragona, Spain
Marta Giamberini
Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Països Catalans 26, Campus Sescelades, 43007 Tarragona, Spain
Szymon Roszkowski
Faculty of Agronomy and Bioengineering, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Szydlowska St. 50, 60-656 Poznan, Poland
Oliwia Kowalczyk
Research and Education Unit for Communication in Healthcare Department of Cardiac Surgery, Ludwik Rydygier Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, M. Curie Sklodowskiej St. 9, 85-094 Bydgoszcz, Poland
Ricard Garcia-Valls
Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Països Catalans 26, Campus Sescelades, 43007 Tarragona, Spain
Bartosz Tylkowski
Eurecat, Centre Tecnològic de Catalunya. Chemical Technologies Unit, Marcel·lí Domingo s/n, 43007 Tarragona, Spain
The current rapid advancement of numerous nanotechnology tools is being employed in treatment of many terminal diseases such as cancer. Nanocapsules (NCs) containing an anti-cancer drug offer a very promising alternative to conventional treatments, mostly due to their targeted delivery and precise action, and thereby they can be used in distinct applications: as biosensors or in medical imaging, allowing for cancer detection as well as agents/carriers in targeted drug delivery. The possibility of using different systems—inorganic nanoparticles, dendrimers, proteins, polymeric micelles, liposomes, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), quantum dots (QDs), biopolymeric nanoparticles and their combinations—offers multiple benefits to early cancer detection as well as controlled drug delivery to specific locations. This review focused on the key and recent progress in the encapsulation of anticancer drugs that include methods of preparation, drug loading and drug release mechanism on the presented nanosystems. Furthermore, the future directions in applications of various nanoparticles are highlighted.
