Stimuli-sensitive drug delivery systems

Abstract In recent years, there have been significant impacts on biomedical science by advances in materials science. Concepts such as nanotechnology have a great impact on biomedical science. Various drug carriers have been scaled down to nanoscales to improve the efficiencies of the systems. The approaches in synthesizing new nanocarriers tend to prepare personalized nanomedicines with regard to abnormal conditions of the patients such as in pathological areas including tumors. It is well known that different cancers show abnormal conditions such as changes in pH, temperature, and redox concentration. Therefore the concept of stimuli-sensitive drug delivery systems was established toward the development of personalized nanomedicines. These delivery systems are sensitive to the patient’s abnormal conditions and respond to these condition through physicochemical changes in their structure. This chapter will provide the readers with an overview of stimuli-sensitive drug delivery systems utilizing micro- and nanocarriers with a focus on cancer therapy.