International Journal of Nanomedicine (Sep 2022)

Natural Products-Based Nanoformulations: A New Approach Targeting CSCs to Cancer Therapy

  • Liao W,
  • Li Y,
  • Wang J,
  • Zhao M,
  • Chen N,
  • Zheng Q,
  • Wan L,
  • Mou Y,
  • Tang J,
  • Wang Z

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 17
pp. 4163 – 4193

Abstract

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Wenhao Liao,1,* Yuchen Li,1,2,* Jing Wang,3,* Maoyuan Zhao,1 Nianzhi Chen,1 Qiao Zheng,1 Lina Wan,1 Yu Mou,1 Jianyuan Tang,1,4 Zhilei Wang1,4 1Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China; 2College of Medical Technology, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Bishan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China; 4TCM Regulating Metabolic Diseases Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Jianyuan Tang; Zhilei Wang, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) lead to the occurrence and progression of cancer due to their strong tumorigenic, self-renewal, and multidirectional differentiation abilities. Existing cancer treatment methods cannot effectively kill or inhibit CSCs but instead enrich them and produce stronger proliferation, invasion, and metastasis capabilities, resulting in cancer recurrence and treatment resistance, which has become a difficult problem in clinical treatment. Therefore, targeting CSCs may be the most promising approach for comprehensive cancer therapy in the future. A variety of natural products (NP) have significant antitumor effects and have been identified to target and inhibit CSCs. However, pharmacokinetic defects and off-target effects have greatly hindered their clinical translation. NP-based nanoformulations (NPNs) have tremendous potential to overcome the disadvantages of NP against CSCs through site-specific delivery and by improving their pharmacokinetic parameters. In this review, we summarize the recent progress of NPNs targeting CSCs in cancer therapy, looking forward to transforming preclinical research results into clinical applications and bringing new prospects for cancer treatment.Keywords: cancer, cancer stem cells, nanoformulations, natural products, targeted therapy

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