Smart Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer Treatment Using Nanomaterials

The search for efficient and safe drug delivery systems to achieve better drug availability at the target site with minimal side effects has been a challenging yet exciting area of biomedical research. Smart drug delivery system is an emerging therapeutic approach, currently being used as a conventional model to deliver drug to specific site or target. There is a new breakthrough of nanomaterials as smart drug delivery systems which enables controlled, extended and site specific administration of drug. Nanomaterials such as metals and non-metals, polymers, liposomes, dendrimers, micelles and nanoclusters are being used as smart drug delivery systems. Cancer continues to be a prevalent and lethal disease which demands site specific treatment. Nanomaterials make it feasible to achieve a highly localized drug accumulation at the target site with enhanced targeting capability and minimal side effects. The nanodevices such as nanotubes, quantum dots, cantilevers, nanorobots, liposomes, dendrimers, micelles, nanoshells and nanowires have proven to be effective in diagnosis and treatment of cancer because of their potential for targeting and multifunctionality. The review focuses on providing comprehensive insight on nanomaterials as effective drug delivery systems in cancer therapies.