Chondroitin sulfate derived theranostic and therapeutic nanocarriers for tumor-targeted drug delivery

The standard chemotherapy is facing the challenges of lack of cancer selectivity and development of drug resistance. Currently, with the application of nanotechnology, the rationally designed nanocarriers of chondroitin sulfate (CS) have been fabricated and their unique features of low toxicity, biocompatibility, and active and passive targeting made them drug delivery vehicles of the choice for cancer therapy. The hydrophilic and anionic CS could be incorporated as a building block into- or decorated on the surface of nanoformulations. Micellar nanoparticles (NPs) self-assembled from amphiphilic CS-drug conjugates and CS-polymer conjugates, polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) and nanogels of CS have been widely implicated in cancer directed therapy. The surface modulation of organic, inorganic, lipid and metallic NPs with CS promotes the receptor-mediated internalization of NPs to the tumor cells. The potential contribution of CS and CS-proteoglycans (CSPGs) in the pathogenesis of various cancer types, and CS nanocarriers in immunotherapy, radiotherapy, sonodynamic therapy (SDT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) of cancer are summarized in this review paper.