Colon cancer and their targeting approaches through nanocarriers: A review

Abstract

Colon cancer is the fifth most common type of cancer in the world. Colon cancer develops when healthy cells in the lining of the colon or rectum alter and grow uncontrollably to form a mass known as a tumor. Despite major medical improvements, colon cancer is still one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality globally. One of the main issues of chemotherapy is toxicity related to conventional medicines. The targeted delivery systems are considered the safest and most effective by increasing the concentration of a therapeutic substance at the tumor site while decreasing it at other organs. Therefore, these delivery systems required lower doses for high therapeutic value with minimum side effects. The current review focuses on targeting therapeutic substances at the desired site using nanocarriers. Additionally, the diagnostic applications of nanocarriers in colorectal cancer are also discussed.

Keywords

Colon cancer / Targeting approaches / Chemotherapies / Nanocarriers / Gold nanoparticles / Liposomes

Acknowledgments

The authors are highly thankful to ISF College of Pharmacy, Moga for providing the necessary facilities for the review work.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Funding

The authors received no extramural funding for the study.

Authors’ contributions

NS conceived the idea and guided the content of the article. RK and RKW collected and compiled the data. NS and KK gave the final edits to the manuscript. NS and RK equally participated in all activities before the approval of the final manuscript.

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