Drug-free Nanotherapies for Cancer Treatment

Background: In the diagnosis, management, and treatment of cancer, numerous technological advancements have been explored in the past few years to find better applications over the conventional treatment approaches. However, their implementation in clinical practice leads to severe and toxic effects on the healthy tissues. Drugs in the form of actives impart cytotoxic effect but concurrently produce undesirable changes on normal tissues. Moreover, serum half-life and intratumor accumulation limit an effective cancer treatment for therapeutic agents. Objective: The objective of this review is to promote the significance of nanotherapy in cancer by strategizing drug-free macromolecules in contrast to conventional methodologies. Methods: This unique concept covers molecularly-imprinted polymers, nanopolymer complex systems, metal nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, quantum dots, grafted polymer-based systems, and drug-free macromolecular therapeutics for effective and selective therapeutic action. Results: In advanced drug delivery systems, target-specific therapy indicates a great potential to improve the efficacy of therapeutics by reducing adverse events to other parts of the body but is restricted due to adverse reactions at the therapeutic site. To resolve such complications, drug-free nano therapy approaches act as an alternative system against conventional carriers for treating organspecific cancers like head, neck, lung, breast, prostate, kidney, etc. Conclusion: The drug-free approaches in various diseases will provide an entirely new perception to avoid or reduce the side and adverse effects of drugs.