Advanced drug delivery systems in blood cancer

Abstract

Abstract Blood cancer is caused by the accumulation of malignant transformations that are originated from the cells of primary or secondary lymphoid organs. The three major blood cancers are multiple myeloma, lymphoma, and leukemia. Blood cancer is possibly treated by chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, and transplantation of bone marrow. Various chemotherapeutic drugs are currently available for treating blood cancer, but still, the use of these clinical drugs is limited due to a lack of tumor cell specificity and dose-related toxicity. In addition, the poor pharmacokinetic profile of these chemotherapeutic agents requires the use of high doses and frequent administration of the drug to assert the threshold therapeutic levels at the site of tumor, thus leading to increased adverse effects in patients. There is an urgent need of developing a suitable and advanced drug delivery system with improved pharmacokinetic properties, safety, and efficacy of conventional therapeutics. The advanced drug delivery systems such as liposomes, nanoparticles, and dendrimer have enhanced pharmacokinetic properties for anticancer therapeutics. For earlier detection of cancer biomarkers in the blood circulation, new advanced drug delivery systems were designed with increased selectivity and sensitivity. They are proved to have enhanced efficacy of anticancer therapeutic drugs compared with conventional chemotherapy. The biocompatibility, biodegradable, and the small submicron-sized particles (20–200\xa0nm) help in overcoming multiple drug resistance. The enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect of these small-sized particles allow them to get accumulated at the tumor sites resulting in rapid angiogenesis and inflammation. This chapter gives a description of different therapies as well as the advantages and limitations of advanced drug delivery formulations employed for treating various blood cancers. Additionally, recent investigations, formulations of nanomedicine, and their applications in the treatment of blood cancer are discussed in this chapter.