An Overview of the Role of Nanoparticles in Handling the Breast Cancer

Although the detection and treatment of breast cancer have significantly developed better than in past decades, it is still the most important cause of death in women worldwide. Until today, various methods have been developed to manage breast cancer, including surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. However, each method has its own limitations. Effective chemotherapy needs to overcome the challenges of treating breast cancer, including drug toxicity, drug resistance, and adverse drug reactions (1,2). Drug resistance is the major complication in cancer chemotherapy for breast cancer (3). Thus, using the proper delivery system as a new route of drug administration may overcome many difficulties. The size of the drug delivery ranging from a few nanometers (colloidal carriers) to micrometers (microparticles) and millimeters (implants) depends on the method of drug administration. One of the most important benefits of a drug delivery system is to target the unhealthy areas of the body. Nanoparticles are promising in the drug delivery system and deliver the drug to the target tissue in a timely manner (4,5). The encapsulation of chemotherapeutic drugs, especially the enzymes, in polymeric nanoparticles enhances their stability against heat, pH, proteases, and the other degradation factors of their structure (6,7).