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Circumventing Tumor Resistance to Chemotherapy by Nanotechnology

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Book cover Multi-Drug Resistance in Cancer

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 596))

Abstract

Patient relapse and metastasis of malignant cells is very common after standard cancer treatment with surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy. Chemotherapy, a cornerstone in the development of present day cancer therapy, is one of the most effective and potent strategies to treat malignant tumors. However, the resistance of cancer cells to the drugs remains a significant impediment to successful chemotherapy. An additional obstacle is the inability of chemotherapeutic drugs to selectively target tumor cells. Almost all the anticancer agents have severe side effects on normal tissues and organs. The toxicity of currently available anticancer drugs and the inefficiency of chemotherapeutic treatments, especially for advanced stages of the disease, have limited the optimization of clinical drug combinations and effective chemotherapeutic protocols. Nanomedicine allows the release of drugs by biodegradation and self-regulation of nanomaterials in vitro and in vivo. Nanotechnologies are characterized by effective drug encapsulation, controllable self-assembly, specificity and biocompatibility as a result of their own material properties. Nanotechnology has the potential to overcome current chemotherapeutic barriers in cancer treatment, because of the unique nanoscale size and distinctive bioeffects of nanomaterials. Nanotechnology may help to solve the problems associated with traditional chemotherapy and multidrug resistance.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mr. Xu Zhang for research assistance during the preparation of its manuscript. We also appreciate the help of Dr. Michael M. Gottesman for critical reading of the manuscript. Our work is financially supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences “Hundred Talents Program” (07165111ZX), and the National Basic Research Program of China (2009CB930200). This work was also supported in part by NIH/ NCRR/ RCMI 2G12RR003048, NIH 5U 54CA091431, and USAMRMC W81XWH-05-1-0291 grants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanosciences and Technology of China, Beijing, China

    Xing-Jie Liang, Chunying Chen & Yuliang Zhao

  2. Key Laboratory of Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Yuliang Zhao

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  1. Xing-Jie Liang
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  2. Chunying Chen
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  3. Yuliang Zhao
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  4. Paul C. Wang
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Correspondence to Xing-Jie Liang .

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  1. College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Weijin Rd. 94, Tianjin, 300071, China, People's Republic

    Jun Zhou

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Liang, XJ., Chen, C., Zhao, Y., Wang, P.C. (2010). Circumventing Tumor Resistance to Chemotherapy by Nanotechnology. In: Zhou, J. (eds) Multi-Drug Resistance in Cancer. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 596. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-416-6_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-416-6_21

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-60761-415-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-60761-416-6

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