Introduction: Cancer is the leading cause of death globally and a major barrier to life expectancy. Traditional methods, including gene therapy, have been explored, but smart biomaterials and nanomedicine have improved cancer treatment and diagnosis. These intelligent biomaterials and nano-carriers can be adapted for environmental cues, impacting immunotherapy, regenerative medicine, and targeted cancer therapy.
Nanocarrier-based systems are widely used in cancer imaging, diagnostics and therapies due to their potential to improve therapeutic efficacy. Their self-assembled properties, including size, shape, charge, and surface area, make them ideal for gene delivery. Peptides can be employed in non-viral gene delivery methods to overcome biological barriers.
Methods: Utilizing nanotechnology, biomimetic design, and targeted delivery techniques made advanced biomaterials used for cancer therapy. Sustainable solutions may benefit from the use of these smart biomaterials. The development of surface-modified or functional materials, non-viral gene delivery vectors, and nanocarriers (NCs) has progressed quickly, offering more precise immune regulation for cancer patients. A target gene is inserted into a host cell during gene therapy, thereafter the gene becomes a part of the genetic makeup of the host cell. However, host disease may be exacerbated by the gene’s expression. Important clinical advances have resulted from improvements in infusion procedures, safety, efficacy, and research.
Results: Tumor cells are aberrant cells with a dense, acidic, and hypoxic microenvironment allowing them to renew quickly. Cancer therapy provided by smart nanomaterials, has become active in response to particular stimuli such as pH, temperature, enzymes, or biological molecules. Scholars concentrate on the latest developments in smart NCs, including drug targeting, surface-decorated smart NCs, and stimulus-responsive cancer nanotherapeutics that react to redox, pH, enzyme, and temperature stimuli.
Surface modification approaches and nano-formulation fine tuning are required to overcome negative effects and improve NCs properties. Stable, biodegradable, non-toxic, and releasable medications for prolonged therapy are characteristics of smart NCs delivering stimuli-responsive genes. Because of their efficient protection, extended blood circulation, selective distribution, and controlled release of nucleic acid medicines, NCs hold great promise to be used in gene therapy.
When compared to traditional procedures, smart nanomaterial-based cancer theranostic treatments exhibit reduced side-effects and increased selectivity and sensitivity. In order to cause apoptosis in cancer cells, Zhang et al. extracted neutrophil exosomes (membrane-bound extracellular vesicles with specific roles) and altered them using superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION-Ex). These characteristics make them perfect as treatment of diseases, controlled drug release uses, and biosensors.
Conclusion: Due to its high efficacy and selectivity, gene therapy is a promising oncology strategy that overcomes the drawbacks of conventional small-molecule medications. It can treat illnesses one-time and deal with the underlying cause. The development of smart materials, however, unlocks the potential for stimuli-responsive building blocks, biosensors, scaffolding materials, and regenerative medicine. Non-viral gene therapy vectors, on the other hand, require carriers for cellular delivery. Notwithstanding these developments, a significant barrier to clinical application is the absence of reliable and efficient delivery vectors. The potential for tumor-targeted medication delivery by smart materials is enormous; but, in order to fully realize this promise, scientists, physicians, and industry partners must work together to overcome obstacles like scalability, stability, regulatory concerns, and cost-effectiveness.
Creating useful vectors to enhance nucleic acid medication delivery for gene therapy is the main goal. Although safety issues such as possible skin irritation and inflammation still exist. Stimulus-responsive nanopolymers have recently been used in lab-on-a-chip systems, which has resulted in lower test numbers, expenses, reagents and time usage. Although the field of cancer immunotherapy is still in its infancy, smart nanoparticle-based platforms have demonstrated a considerable increase in therapeutic efficacy and a decrease in side effects when compared to traditional treatments. Appropriate tumour models must be created, and size, surficial charge, hydrophobicity, shape, and PEG chains must all be taken into account.
With their ability to achieve precise targeting, increased solubility, and reduced toxicity, nanocarriers are predicted to make a substantial contribution to the treatment of cancer and improve the effectiveness of therapies and diagnosis in upcoming clinical cancer nanomedicine. The design of synthetic vectors may result from research into structure-function correlations and the functionalities of biomaterials. This could transform medical practices by introducing exogenous gene delivery methods and increasing the clinical use of gene therapy.
Keywords: Biomaterials, Gene delivery, nonviral vectors, nanocarriers, Targeted cancer Therapy