Phytometabolites and Targeted Cancer Nanotherapy: Formulation, Therapeutic Applications and Future Aspects
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22270/ajprd.v14i5.1876Abstract
Cancer remains a major global health challenge, with therapeutic failure frequently associated with tumor heterogeneity, drug resistance, systemic toxicity, poor bioavailability, and inadequate drug accumulation at tumor sites. Phytometabolites, including polyphenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, lignans, stilbenes, and other bioactive plant-derived compounds, have emerged as promising candidates for cancer prevention and therapy because of their diverse molecular activities against multiple hallmarks of cancer. However, their clinical translation is often restricted by poor aqueous solubility, chemical instability, rapid metabolism, limited absorption, short systemic circulation, and nonspecific tissue distribution. Targeted nanotherapy offers an advanced strategy to overcome these limitations by improving the physicochemical properties, pharmacokinetic behavior, tumor accumulation, and therapeutic efficacy of phytometabolites. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in the formulation and targeted delivery of phytometabolite-based nanotherapeutics for cancer management. Different nanocarrier platforms, including polymeric nanoparticles, lipid-based nanoparticles, liposomes, nanostructured lipid carriers, solid lipid nanoparticles, phytosomes, nanoemulsions, dendrimers, metallic nanoparticles, and stimuli-responsive systems, are discussed with emphasis on formulation approaches, physicochemical characterization, drug loading, controlled release, stability, and scalability. Particular attention is given to active and passive tumor-targeting strategies involving receptors, antibodies, peptides, ligands, and tumor-responsive stimuli to enhance selective delivery and minimize off-target toxicity. The therapeutic potential of phytometabolite nanocarriers is further examined across major cancer types, with emphasis on mechanisms involving apoptosis, oxidative stress modulation, cell-cycle regulation, angiogenesis inhibition, metastasis suppression, autophagy, inflammation, and multidrug-resistance pathways. The review also highlights current challenges related to formulation reproducibility, nanotoxicity, pharmacokinetics, tumor heterogeneity, manufacturing, regulatory requirements, and clinical translation. Finally, emerging approaches integrating precision nanomedicine, biomarker-guided targeting, multifunctional nanoplatforms, combination therapy, and artificial intelligence-assisted formulation design are discussed as future directions for developing clinically translatable phytometabolite-based targeted cancer nanotherapies.
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