Engineered liposomes in interventional theranostics of solid tumors

Abstract

Engineered liposomal nanoparticles have unique characteristicsas cargo carriers in cancer care and therapeutics. Liposomal theranosticshave shown significant progress in preclinical and clinical cancermodels in the past few years. Liposomal hybrid systems have not onlybeen approved by the FDA but have also reached the market level. Nanosizedliposomes are clinically proven systems for delivering multiple therapeuticas well as imaging agents to the target sites in (i) cancer theranosticsof solid tumors, (ii) image-guided therapeutics, and (iii) combinationtherapeutic applications. The choice of diagnostics and therapeuticscan intervene in the theranostics property of the engineered system.However, integrating imaging and therapeutics probes within lipidself-assembly liposome may compromise their overalltheranostics performance. On the other hand, liposomal systems sufferfrom their fragile nature, site-selective tumor targeting, specificbiodistribution and premature leakage of loaded cargo molecules beforereaching the target site. Various engineering approaches, viz., grafting,conjugation, encapsulations, etc., have been investigated to overcomethe aforementioned issues. It has been studied that surface-engineeredliposomes demonstrate better tumor selectivity and improved therapeuticactivity and retention in cells/or solid tumors. It should be notedthat several other parameters like reproducibility, stability, smoothcirculation, toxicity of vital organs, patient compliance, etc. mustbe addressed before using liposomal theranostics agents in solid tumorsor clinical models. Herein, we have reviewed the importance and challengesof liposomal medicines in targeted cancer theranostics with theirpreclinical and clinical progress and a translational overview.