Nanocarriers for the Effective Treatment of Cervical Cancer: Research Advancements and Patent Analysis.

Background: Cervical cancer being the cancer of cervix is caused by an aberrant cell growth that acquires an ability to spread/ invade to other body parts. It has also been reported to be the second most common cause of death and cancer among women. Based on the severity of the disease, treatment aspects need to be explored more in order to overcome the limitations acquired by the conventional treatment. Recently, nanocarriers based drug delivery systems including liposomes, nanofibres, metallic NPs, polymeric NPs, dendrimers, polymeric micelles, antibody-drug conjugates, etc. have been explored to target and treat cervical cancer.

Objective: This review highlights numerous recent research and patent reports as well on nanocarriers based systems.

Methods: Patents viz US, EP and WIPO have been retrieved using sites www.uspto.gov/patft and www.freepatentsonline.com to collect literature on nanocarriers.

Results: Various research reports and patents revealed nanocarriers to be effective in treating cervical cancer and these carriers are observed to be safer than the conventional treatment.

Conclusion: Nanocarriers result in transforming drug distribution that can overpower drug resistance. Further, nanocarriers based drug delivery systems can particularly target drugs to cellular, subcellular and tissue sites. By enhancing the drug's bioavailability at the desired site, these systems result in therapeutic benefits like enhanced safety and efficacy. Also, in combination with other treatment approaches like radiation, photothermal and gene therapy, nanocarriers are reported to be quite effective and can define novel strategies to combat cervical cancer.