Advances in nano-delivery of natural products for cancer therapy: Mechanisms and translational strategies

Cancer remains a major global health burden, with conventional monotherapies often constrained by recurrence, resistance, and systemic toxicity. Natural products derived from plants, animals, microorganisms, and minerals exhibit broad anticancer potential by engaging multiple mechanistic pathways. However, their clinical application is limited by poor solubility, low bioavailability, and chemical instability. Nano-delivery systems (NDS) have emerged as a promising strategy to address these limitations by enhancing pharmacokinetics, stabilizing labile compounds, and enabling co-delivery with conventional drugs, thereby supporting multimodal and synergistic interventions. This review summarizes current applications of natural products in NDS-based cancer therapy, beginning with their classification and mechanistic axes, followed by strategies through which NDS improves pharmacological performance and facilitates integration into combination regimens. Finally, this review highlights both significant progress and challenges, providing a foundation for future advances in translational cancer therapy.