Harnessing Nanoemulsions for Tailored Breast Cancer Therapy: Recent Insights and Opportunities

Abstract: Breast cancer is classified as the most prominent and aggressive form of cancer, predominantly affecting women worldwide, underscoring an imperative need for the development of innovative treatment strategies. Despite the vast array of treatment methods, including surgical removal, hormone therapy, gene therapy, radiation therapy, etc., these methods are primarily associated with significant drawbacks, such as a lack of site-specificity and multidrug resistance. In the pursuit of more effective breast cancer treatments, nanoemulsions emerge as an exceptionally promising alternative. Nanoemulsions represent an advanced drug delivery platform for a wide range of therapeutics, including chemotherapeutic agents, essential oils, herbal actives, and genetic material, offering innovative strategies for breast cancer management. Nanoemulsions offer distinct therapeutic advantages by enhancing solubility and bioavailability, increasing drug-loading efficiency, and enabling controlled, site-specific release of anticancer agents. They promote apoptosis, modulate multidrug resistance, and reduce systemic toxicity, thereby improving overall therapeutic efficacy. Furthermore, surface-functionalized nanoemulsions with targeting ligands markedly improve tumor selectivity, while localized delivery strategies, such as intraductal administration, prolong drug retention and minimize offtarget effects. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of breast cancer development and progression, emphasizing the therapeutic relevance of nanoemulsions. Although treating breast cancer with nanoemulsions holds extensive therapeutic promise, there remains considerable scope to reveal novel findings that can enhance their clinical applicability, thus offering promising avenues for further advancements.