The superiority of nanomedicine over conventional medicines in the treatment of cancer has gained immediate recognition worldwide. As traditional cancer therapies are nonspecific and detrimental to healthy cells, the ability of nanomedicine to release drugs to target tumor cells specifically instead of healthy cells has brought new hope to cancer patients. This review focuses on the effects of various factors of nanoparticles such as transport, concentration in cells, tumor microenvironment, interaction with protein, penetration, uptake by tumor cells, cancer cell mutations, and intracellular trafficking of the nanoparticle. Besides the history of nanomedicine, future perspectives of nanomedicines are also explored in this text.
Keywords: cancer; controlled release; nano medicine; nanomaterials; tumor microenvironment.