Lipid Nanocarriers in Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy

This book introduces the fundamental principles of lipid nanocarriers science relevant to cancer therapy. The first in this field, it fills a need for an accurate, coherent and authoritative introduction to lipid nanocarriers focusing on cancer therapy, both because of the growing popularity of these modern drug delivery systems and also because of the emergent need for dealing with cancer treatment. Active drug delivery and targeting using nanobiotechnologies has become one of the most successful strategies to approach chemotherapy. This book deals with lipid nanocarriers for targeted delivery to tumours of various organs and combination of these with other methods of treatment of cancer such as radiotherapy, and diagnostic imaging analysis. Lipid nanocarriers are also used for gene therapy for cancer. Also addressed is how diagnostic strategies with lipid nanocarriers can be combined with therapeutics, which will be important for the personalised management of cancer. Cancer chemotherapeutic drugs are also being used as immunosuppressive agents in the chronic treatment of non-neoplastic diseases. The scientific research in this field has been focused on the development of strategies to target and deliver several cancer chemotherapeutic drugs to decrease cytotoxicity. These include both carrier- and receptor-mediated nanocarriers. Being biodegradable and biocompatible systems, lipid nanocarriers have been extensively explored to increase the therapeutic index of drugs, reducing adverse side effects to ultimately extend the lifespan of patients. Furthermore, a familiarity with lipid materials science will enable scientists to conduct rational performulation studies, and to understand and optimize formulations, drug delivery systems and their manufacturing processes as well as associated process analytical technologies and quality by design.