Nanotechnology approaches for the delivery of antitumor drugs: the case of doxorubicin
Year: 2018
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Over the years, nanotechnology had a huge evolution and gathered the attention of many scientists, including those involved in medical sciences. Nanomedicine thus appeared, trying to overcome obstacles that still exist in conventional medicine, by providing innovative approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Nowadays, cancer is considered one of the major causes of worldwide death. Doxorubicin (DOX) is a chemotherapeutic drug which is routinely used for cancer treatment. Due to its broad spectrum of activity, DOX is used as a first-line treatment combined with other drugs and procedures. However, this drug has several associated side effects, being the injury of the cardiac muscle tissue and myelosuppression the most reported. Cancer nanomedicine stands up as an alternative to conventional cancer therapy by using nanomaterials as drug carriers which, potentially, make the treatment more efficient and safe. Polymer-based nanomaterials are very promising vehicles for drug delivery, due to the easiness in modelling their properties. Over the years, polymers have proven to be capable of encapsulating and releasing drugs in a sustained manner, improving their biodistribution and accumulation in tumours. The main goal of this thesis was to find new drug delivery systems that could be able to encapsulate DOX and successfully deliver it inside cancer cells. Hopefully, using nanomaterials for DOX delivery, it will be possible to overcome the side effects which are frequently associated to this antitumor drug.
Author: Mara Gonçalves
Language: English
Subfield: Biomaterials
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2913409889