Protein Nanocarriers for the Delivery of Phytoconstituents

Phytoconstituents are well known for their anticancer activities. They are considered as the best alternatives of chemotherapeutic drugs because of their less toxicity to healthy cells and higher selectivity to cancerous cells. However, poor water solubility, low bioavailability, instability, short half-life, and rapid clearance pose major drawbacks for clinical applications. To overcome these obstacles, drug delivery systems are used and they have gained potential research interest in recent years; particularly, the protein nanocarriers are receiving lot of scientific attention because of their non-toxicity, non-immunogenicity, biocompatibility and biodegradability as well as their ability to increase solubility of drug with high encapsulation efficiency. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview and discussion of the various protein nanocarriers used to deliver phytoconstituents. Furthermore, recent advancements in novel synthetic approaches and different administration routes are also reviewed. Finally, biomedical applications of protein nanocarriers in drug/gene delivery, vaccine development, disease diagnosis, and targeted therapy are provided.