Premium
Recent developments in nanomedicine for melanoma treatment
Author(s) -
Tang JianQin,
Hou XiaoYang,
Yang ChunSheng,
Li YaXi,
Xin Yong,
Guo WenWen,
Wei ZhiPing,
Liu YanQun,
Jiang Guan
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.30708
Subject(s) - nanomedicine , melanoma , medicine , medical physics , nanotechnology , cancer research , materials science , nanoparticle
Melanoma is a most aggressive skin cancer with limited therapeutic options and its incidence is increasing rapidly in recent years. The discovery and application of new targeted therapy agents have shown significant benefits. However, adverse side‐effects and resistance to chemotherapy remain formidable challenges in the clinical treatment of malignant melanoma. Nanotherapeutics offers an important prospect of overcoming these drawbacks. The anti‐tumoral applications of nanomedicine are varied, including those in chemotherapy, RNA interference, photothermal therapy, and photodynamic therapy. Furthermore, nanomedicine allows delivery of the effector structures into the tumor site via passive or active targeting, thereby allowing increased therapeutic specificity and reduced side effects. In this review, we summarize the latest developments in the application of nanocarrier‐mediated targeted drug delivery to melanoma and nanomedicine‐related clinical trials in melanoma treatment. We also discuss existing problems and opportunities for future developments, providing direction and new thoughts for further studies.