Current Status and Future Challenges of Various Polymers as Cancer Therapeutics

Abstract Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide and its treatment has been a major concern for researchers and doctors. Severe side effects of prominent anticancer drugs have forced the research community to explore delivery vehicles to achieve drug delivery specifically to the cancer site. Among these, nanoparticles emerged as the most potential candidates. But of various metallic and inorganic nanocarriers explored for the purpose of drug delivery, none are without any toxic effect to normal cells. Such a scenario shifted focus of delivery vehicle research to biocompatible and nontoxic carriers leading to polymeric nanocarriers. Polymeric nanocarriers do not exhibit toxic effects as seen in case of metallic and inorganic ones. Most of the polymeric nanocarriers carry linkages that are labile to some or other responses like redox, enzyme, and pH. Further, these polymers can be modified easily to impart desired characteristics and thus hold tremendous potential as delivery vehicles for anticancer drugs. In this chapter, we have briefly given an overview of research in the field of anticancer drug delivery using various polymeric nanocarriers and hurdles that need to be overcome, along with future prospects.