The potential role of chitosan-based nanoparticles as drug delivery systems in pancreatic cancer

Introduction: Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal diseases in comparison to other types of cancer occurring in men and women. This cancer is considered as an important global health problem due to its asymptomatic early stages, poor prognosis, high mortality rate, anatomical inaccessibility, and lack of proper diagnostic methods. Consequently, despite all the improvements in the field of cancer diagnosis and treatment, an intense need for more valid and practical procedures exists.Nanotechnology is an inchoate field of science that previously scientist’s tendency to enhance the efficacy of current preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic methods has oriented them to build a bridge between this science and medicine. Providing a targeted therapy for many kinds of cancer, especially for pancreatic cancer, through the establishment of nanoformulations is one of the aims of nanomedicine. Chitosan is a chitin derivative with many properties that are making it an appropriate option for designing drug delivery systems.Description: This review will present and summarize latest research being carried out on chitosan-based nanoformulations such as nanoparticles (NPs) and liposomes in the field of diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer. It will also highlight the delivery of some common chemotherapeutic drugs such as gemcitabine, paclitaxel, and doxorubicin by the means of these nanoformulations. In addition, this review article will report various studies, where these nanoformulations have been utilized for their therapeutic potential.Conclusion: In summary, multiple empirical explorations have been successful in suggesting the role of chitosan-based nanoformulations in diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer. Folate-chitosan NPs, glycol-chitosan microsphere, O-carboxymethyl chitosan NPs, and lipophilic stearoyl chitosan coated are some of the formulations that can be loaded with chemotherapeutic drugs. Furthermore, there are also some other chitosan nanoformulations which can be used in molecular imaging of pancreatic tumors such as chitosan-coated magnetic NPs loaded with antisense oligonucleutide.