Nanotechnology based targeted drug delivery systems for breast cancer: challenges, recent advancement and future perspectives

Globally, breast cancer remains a leading causes of cancer-related mortality among women, emphasizing the need for more effective therapies. Nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems have emerged as promising tools for reducing systemic toxicity while enhancing the precision and efficacy of treatments. By engineering nanoparticles to selectively target tumor cells, these systems increase drug accumulation at the tumor site and minimize harm to healthy tissues. This review focuses on the development of nanocarrier systems such as liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles, dendrimers, micelles, metallic nanoparticles, black phosphorus, and protein-based nanoparticles for the targeted delivery of chemotherapeutic agents in breast cancer. Both passive and active targeting mechanisms were explored, including the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect, tumor specific biomarkers to achieve stimuli-responsive drug release. Future directions in research aim to further optimize these nanocarriers to enhance therapeutic efficacy while minimizing toxicity. The integration of personalized medicine with smart nanocarriers, AI-assisted delivery systems, diagnostic tools, and CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing holds great promise for more precise and individualized breast cancer therapies. Despite significant progress, challenges such as regulatory hurdles, tumor heterogeneity, multidrug resistance, issues related to nanoparticle biocompatibility continue to impede clinical translation. This work also addresses these barriers and implementation of nanomedicine in clinical oncology.