Current and future prospective of liposomes as drug delivery vehicles for the effective treatment of cancer

Abstract

Liposomes, as the leading drug delivery system, have played a significant role in the formulation of anticancer drug to improve therapeutic effect. This system improves the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles of the therapeutic payload, promote controlled and sustained release of anticancer drugs, and exhibit very less systemic toxicity as compared to the free anticancer drug. The mechanism giving rise to therapeutic advantages of liposomes such as the ability of long-circulating liposomes to preferentially accumulate at disease sites such as tumors, site of infection, and site of inflammation. In the studies, liposomal anthracyclines have shown highly efficient drug encapsulation, resulting in significant anticancer activity with reduced cardiotoxicity. There are several methods for liposomes preparation based on lipid drug interaction and liposomes disposition mechanism including the incubation of rapid clearance of liposomes by controlling particle size and surface hydration. The liposomes are characterized with respect to physical, chemical, and biological parameters. This review discusses the recent advances in the preparation methods of liposome for the treatment of cancer.