pH-sensitive nanocarriers for curcumin delivery in cancer therapy

Abstract Cancer is a group of diseases that cause high mortality worldwide. Current strategies for cancer treatment include chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, and targeted therapy. Recently, nanotechnology has revealed specific advantages that can transform the future of cancer therapy. The anticancer roles of nanoparticles (NPs) are mainly related to their capability to deliver a wide variety of therapeutic cargoes to specific target sites. In this area, stimuli-responsive nanocarriers have attracted huge interest as promising platforms. Among them, pH-responsive delivery is the most common approach that is related to the difference of pH between tumor cells and normal cells. The encapsulation of natural anticancer compounds such as curcumin (CUR) into pH-responsive nanocarriers can help their efficient intracellular delivery. In this review, we investigated current insights of pH-sensitive nanocarriers for CUR delivery in cancer therapy. This review emphasizes the types of designed CUR-based pH-sensitive nanocarriers and their efficacy in cancer treatment. In addition, their structure-property relations, the methods of modifying their pH-responsive behavior, and the challenges related to these delivery nanosystems for cancer treatment are discussed.