Targeted Drug Delivery for the Treatment of Blood Cancers

Abstract

Blood cancers are a type of liquid tumor which means cancer is present in the body fluid. Multiple myeloma, leukemia, and lymphoma are the three common types of blood cancers. Chemotherapy is the major therapy of blood cancers by systemic administration of anticancer agents into the blood. However, a high incidence of relapse often happens, due to the low efficiency of the anticancer agents that accumulate in the tumor site, and therefore lead to a low survival rate of patients. This indicates an urgent need for a targeted drug delivery system to improve the safety and efficacy of therapeutics for blood cancers. In this review, we describe the current targeting strategies for blood cancers and recently investigated and approved drug delivery system formulations for blood cancers. In addition, we also discuss current challenges in the application of drug delivery systems for treating blood cancers.