Cancer is the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Among all cancer types, lung cancer is recognized as the most lethal and highly metastatic. The application of targeted nanomedicine loaded with anticancer drugs is highly desirable for successful lung cancer treatment. However, due to the heterogenicity and complexity of lung cancer, the therapeutic effectiveness of a single receptor targeting nanomedicine is unfortunately limited. Therefore, the concept of dual-receptor-targeted nanomedicine is an emerging trend for the advancement in lung cancer therapeutics. In this review, the authors discuss various single- and dual-receptor-targeted nanomedicines that have been developed for lung cancer treatment. Furthermore, the authors also discussed all the types of receptors that can be utilized in combination for the development of dual-receptor-targeted nanomedicines.
Keywords: active-targeting; dual-receptor-targeted nanomedicines; ligand density; lung cancer; passive targeting; targeting ligands.
Globally, cancer is one of the leading causes of death. Among various cancers, lung cancer is highly lethal and quickly spreads to other body parts. Directly delivering the drugs to cancer cells has been possible due to the application of receptor-based targeted nanomedicine. However, variation among patients and the complexity of the lung cancer has depicted that a single-receptor-based drug targeting lung cancer has limited outcomes. Therefore, delivering the drug to the lungs via dual-receptor-targeted nanomedicine has added advantages over conventional and single-receptor-targeted drug-delivery systems. Hence, the authors have reviewed various single- and dual-receptor-targeted nanomedicines reported for lung cancer treatment.