Nano-drug delivery system for the treatment of multidrug-resistant breast cancer: Current status and future perspectives
Lanwen Gao, Fansu Meng, Zhenjiang Yang, Markel Lafuente‐Merchan, Laura Merino Fernández, Ye Cao, Kosuke Kusamori, Makiya Nishikawa, Shoko Itakura, Junqian Chen, Xiaoxun Huang, Dongfang Ouyang, Oliver Riester, Hans‐Peter Deigner, Haibiao Lai, José Luís Pedraz, Murugan Ramalingam, Yu Cai
Abstract
Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers in women. Chemotherapy continues to be the treatment of choice for clinically combating it. Nevertheless, the chemotherapy process is frequently hindered by multidrug resistance, thereby impacting the effectiveness of the treatment. Multidrug resistance (MDR) refers to the phenomenon in which malignant tumour cells develop resistance to anticancer drugs after one single exposure. It can occur with a broad range of chemotherapeutic drugs with distinct chemical structures and mechanisms of action, and it is one of the major causes of treatment failure and disease relapse. Research has long been focused on overcoming MDR by using multiple drug combinations, but this approach is often associated with serious side effects. Therefore, there is a pressing need for in-depth research into the mechanisms of MDR, as well as the development of new drugs to reverse MDR and improve the efficacy of breast cancer chemotherapy. This article reviews the mechanisms of multidrug resistance and explores the application of nano-drug delivery system (NDDS) to overcome MDR in breast cancer. The aim is to offer a valuable reference for further research endeavours. • The different causes and mechanisms of multidrug resistance in breast cancer are systematically highlighted. • Nanodrug delivery systems for treating breast cancer multidrug resistance through different mechanisms are discussed. • The clinical limitations and future prospect of multidrug-resistant nanodrug delivery systems for breast cancer are analyzed.