TY - GEN
T1 - Albumin nanoparticles in cancer therapeutics
T2 - clinical Status, challenges, and future directions
AU - Kadri, Hachemi
AU - Alshatfa, Mesk
AU - Alsalloum, Feras Z.
AU - Elhissi, Abdelbary
AU - Daou, Anis
AU - Khoder, Mouhamad
PY - 2025/10/2
Y1 - 2025/10/2
N2 - Cancer, a global health burden, is characterized by uncontrolled cell growth and metastasis, often resulting in debilitating treatments and mortality. While conventional therapeutic strategies have improved survival rates, they are limited by challenges such as off-target toxicity and drug resistance. With their design to enable targeted drug delivery, nanoparticles have presented a promising avenue to overcome these limitations. Protein-based nanoparticles, particularly those based on albumin, are notable for their biocompatibility, stability, and ease of modification. The approval of Abraxane, an albumin-based nanoparticle formulation of paclitaxel, for metastatic breast cancer marked a significant milestone. However, further approvals have been slow to materialize until the recent approval of Fyarro® in 2021. This focused review highlights the potential of albumin-based nanoparticles, emphasizing their advantages, current state, and progress in clinical use as anticancer therapeutics. We also discuss challenges impeding new approvals and future directions for unlocking the full potential of this technology.
AB - Cancer, a global health burden, is characterized by uncontrolled cell growth and metastasis, often resulting in debilitating treatments and mortality. While conventional therapeutic strategies have improved survival rates, they are limited by challenges such as off-target toxicity and drug resistance. With their design to enable targeted drug delivery, nanoparticles have presented a promising avenue to overcome these limitations. Protein-based nanoparticles, particularly those based on albumin, are notable for their biocompatibility, stability, and ease of modification. The approval of Abraxane, an albumin-based nanoparticle formulation of paclitaxel, for metastatic breast cancer marked a significant milestone. However, further approvals have been slow to materialize until the recent approval of Fyarro® in 2021. This focused review highlights the potential of albumin-based nanoparticles, emphasizing their advantages, current state, and progress in clinical use as anticancer therapeutics. We also discuss challenges impeding new approvals and future directions for unlocking the full potential of this technology.
KW - albumin
KW - cancer
KW - clinical applications
KW - nanoparticles
KW - protein
KW - targeted drug delivery
U2 - 10.3390/pharmaceutics17101290
DO - 10.3390/pharmaceutics17101290
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105020009250
SN - 1999-4923
VL - 17
SP - 1290
JO - Pharmaceutics
JF - Pharmaceutics
ER -