NANOCARRIER SYSTEMS FOR TARGETED CANCER THERAPY: RECENT ADVANCES AND TRANSLATIONAL PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

Cancer is one of the major concerns in the world today, and it accounts for almost 20 million new cases and 10 million deaths annually, leading to significant disability-adjusted life years lost. The total incidence of lung, breast, colorectal, prostate, and stomach cancer accounts for almost half of the total cancer incidence cases worldwide. The burden of cancer is more in low- and middle-income countries, where the mortality and incidence rate is low due to delayed diagnosis and lack of access to efficient treatments. The burden of cancer is expected to rise in the future due to the increasing population and the aging population in the world, and cancer incidence rates are expected to rise in the year 2040 in resource-constrained countries. The burden of cancer is related to cancer types and their association with certain preventable factors and infecting agents; however, the incidence rate of cancer types is escalating, and hence, precise and efficient cancer therapies are the need of the hour. The limitation in traditional cancer therapies, such as chemotherapy, is systemic toxicity, lack of specificity of drugs, and low drug bioavailability, and hence, cancer therapies using nanotechnology show immense promise, especially drug delivery systems such as liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles, dendrimers, micelles, solid lipid nanoparticles, and inorganic nanoparticles. The review aims to critically discuss the construction of nanocarriers, cancer cell targeting, and cancer therapy, and the challenges in cancer nanotherapy. Peer Review History: Received 3 February 2026; Reviewed 11 March 2026; Accepted 17 April; Available online 15 May 2026 Academic Editor: Dr. Essam Mohamed Eissa, Beni-Suef University, Egypt, dressamceutics@yahoo.com Reviewers: Dr. Mrinal Kanti Bhoumik, Jubilant Cadista Pharmaceutical Inc., mrinal_bhoumik@yahoo.com Dr. Nada Farrag, Misr International University, Egypt, Nada_Hazem87@hotmail.com