The ability of nanosystems to manipulate the molecules and their structures has revolutionized conventional drug delivery. Nanoparticles have attracted a lot of attention from a pharmaceutical scientist in the drug delivery system due to their versatility in targeting tissues, accessing deep molecular targets, and controlling drug release in addition to their theranostic utility. Polymeric nanosystems can be constructed from various natural, semisynthetic, and synthetic polymers and their combinations to achieve desired properties such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, and safety. These polymers can also be modified chemically to synthesize their derivatives which may provide stimuli-responsive (pH, temperature, radiation, magnetic, redox, etc,) and site-, tissue- or even cell-specific drug delivery. These systems can also be attached with some site-specific ligands on their surface to achieve active and targeted delivery of active moieties, and macromolecules to the desired location.
Polymeric nanoparticles (PNPs) are submicron-sized colloidal particles. The general structure of polymeric NPs consists of a core polymer with therapeutic agents either surface-bound or encapsulated and coated with targeting and/or hydrophilic molecules to increase circulation half-life and specific delivery. Recently, the use of polymer-mediated delivery systems, such as polymeric nanoparticles, polymer–drug conjugates, polymer micelles, polymer–drug polyplexes, etc. has been investigated for simultaneous diagnosis and therapy of various cancers as these systems provide protection from rapid clearance and enzymatic digestion, controlled release, besides their site-specific delivery capabilities. Advanced theranostic PNPs are multifunctional in nature, capable of diagnosis and delivery of therapy to diseased cells with the help of targeting ligands and biomarkers.
Traditional chemotherapy drugs indicate two effects, the cytocidal that interferes with cell division by killing the cancer cells, or the cytostatic effect through decreasing their replication. The therapeutics cannot discriminate between normal and malignant cells and therefore damage normal cells as well as malignant cells. PNPs have shown their capability to manipulate particles, target malignant tissues, control the release of drugs, and minimize the uptake of the drug by normal cells. Besides, they may enhance the treatment efficacy of chemotherapy medicine and reduce their toxic effects. Theranostic PNPs can work better than other theranostics since they have advanced capabilities in an all-in-one single platform, which include sustained/controlled release, targeted delivery, higher transport efficiency by endocytosis, stimulus-responsive agent release (i.e., smart delivery), synergetic performance (e.g., combination therapy, siRNA co-delivery), multimodality diagnosis and/or therapies and quality performances (e.g., oral delivery, escape from multi-drug resistance (MDR) protein, autophagy inhibition etc).
We welcome submissions related to but not limited to the following research fields:
- Novel polymeric nanoplatforms for advanced theranostic applications in cancer diagnosis and therapy
- Polymeric nanoparticles of natural and semisynthetic polymers for cancer therapy
- Theranostic polymeric micelles for cancer diagnosis and therapy
- Theranostic drug-polymer conjugates for simultaneous cancer diagnosis and treatment
- Stimuli-responsive polymer based nanoplatforms for advanced cancer therapeutics
- Targeted polymeric nanoparticles for site-specific delivery of chemotherapeutics
- Comprehensive reviews on various polymeric nano constructs for cancer diagnosis and therapy
- Colon-targeted polymeric nanosystems for simultaneous diagnosis and therapy
Keywords: Polymeric nanoparticles; Multiple cancer; Nanotheranostic; siRNA co-delivery; Simultaneous cancer diagnosis
All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review; the Guest Advisor for this collection will not be handling the manuscripts (unless they are an Editorial Board member). Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.
The deadline for submitting manuscripts is 12/12/2023.
Dr. Sankha Bhattacharya did his Post Doctorate from the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, INDIA (August 2018-August 2019) in cancer nanomedicine and molecular pharmacology. He did his Ph.D. from the School of Pharmacy, RK University, Rajkot, INDIA (June2014-April 2018). He perused his Graduation (Pharmacy) and Post-Graduation (Pharmaceutics) from SRM University, Chennai, INDIA (August 2005-April 2009) with first class and distinction. He is currently serving as an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy & Technology Management Shirpur, NMIMS Deemed-to-be University, Shirpur, Maharashtra 425405, India, with 12 years of Research and Teaching experience. He has published more than 100 Inational papers in high-impact factor and peer-reviewed journals. He also published three books, four book chapters on the global platform.
Dr. Bhupendra G. Prajapati works as Professor in Department of Pharmaceutics, Shree S. K. Patel College of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Ganpat University, North Gujarat, India. He did his Ph.D. from Hemchandracharya North Gujarat University, Patan. He did his PG and UG from M. S. University, Baroda. He has 19 years of experience in academic/industry (17+2). He awarded with Carrier Award for Young Teacher by AICTE, New Delhi in 2013. He was also awarded Distinguished Associate Professor by in TechNExt India 2017 by CSI, Mumbai. He claims on his name more than fifty national and international publications. He fetched grants for Research Projects, Staff Development Programs, Seminars, Conferences, and Travel Grants from National and State Government agencies. He is also given his guidance in industrial consultancy projects conducted at the institute.
Dr. Kasi Viswanadh has five years of teaching experience and five years of research experience in the area of drug delivery systems, particularly the development of targeted nanosystems for the treatment of various cancers. My doctoral research work focused on the design, development, characterization, and evaluation of EGFR-targeted chitosan nanomedicine and redox-sensitive TPGS-SH nanomedicine for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. Both the works were published in peer-reviewed journals such as Nanomedicine (Future Medicine, 6.096 impact factor) and International Journal of Pharmaceutics (Elsevier, 6.510 impact factor).
