Exploring Liposomes for Lung Cancer Therapy

Cancer is referred to as a pleiotropic disease-causing approximately 9.6 million deaths in 2018. Among all cancers, lung cancer was the leading cause of death in 2017, and 12% of fatalities were alone due to lung cancer. The associated risk factors in lung cancer include smoking (80-85%), chronic inflammation in the lungs, COPD, pulmonary fibrosis, environmental and occupational exposure to nickel, arsenic, chromates, etc. Early diagnosed patients' treatment plan includes chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, and tumor ablation. Many sorts of drug delivery carriers have been used in the past, usually in targeted chemotherapy. Liposomes are spherical shape vesicles containing a lipid bilayer and aqueous core, with potency to encapsulate both hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs with minimal toxicity. These vesicles have a particle size of 0.02-1000 μm allowing selective passive targeting to the tumor's deeper tissues. Current publications on liposomes highlight their acceptance and best choice among all systems to deliver synthetic and herbal drugs to the lungs. This review focuses on many aspects, which include an in-depth analysis of potential anticancer drugs that have utilized the advantages of liposomes for effective lung carcinomatherapy and devices used to deliver the active agents to the pulmonary tissues. Investigations on ongoing, approved, and failed clinical trials and patents on products related to lung cancer have been highlighted to provide a critical review on the subject.