Nanocarriers in Cancer Therapy: From Drug Delivery to Radiotherapy
A special issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247). This special issue belongs to the section "Pharmaceutical Technology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 September 2026 | Viewed by 927
Special Issue Editors
Interests: cancer nanomedicine; radiotherapy; drug delivery systems; vaccine development; health & science innovation strategy
Interests: functional liposomes; functional dendritic polymers; nano-sized drug delivery systems; drug targeting; triggered drug release
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Cancer remains one of the leading global causes of mortality. Cancer therapy continues to face major limitations due to off-target toxicity, suboptimal drug accumulation within tumors, and the intrinsic resistance of many cancers to conventional regimens. Nanocarriers offer a transformative opportunity to improve cancer outcomes by optimizing pharmacokinetics, enhancing intratumoral penetration, modulating the tumor microenvironment, and enabling controlled or stimuli-responsive release of therapeutic payloads. Beyond systemic drug delivery, lipid nanoparticles, polymeric nanoparticles, inorganic nanomaterials, and hybrid platforms are increasingly being engineered to synergize with radiotherapy, opening new avenues to sensitize tumors and improve therapeutic ratios. Emerging research is also redefining how nanotechnology interface with immuno-oncology and cancer vaccine development, thereby enabling multi-modality therapeutic integration. This Special Issue invites original research and reviews focused on translational advances in nanocarrier-enabled cancer therapy, including preclinical and clinical validation, combination strategies with radiotherapy, and pathways toward regulatory or clinical implementation. Manuscripts highlighting challenges, safety considerations, and innovation strategies for clinical adoption are highly encouraged.
Scope: This Special Issue focuses on clinically relevant advances in nanocarrier‐enabled cancer therapy, with a strong emphasis on translational impact and therapeutic performance in biologically realistic models. We welcome studies that evaluate nanocarriers in drug delivery, radiosensitization, cancer vaccine development, and tumor microenvironment modulation, particularly those demonstrating in vivo efficacy, mechanistic validation, or pathways toward regulatory and clinical adoption.
Dr. Abdulaziz Alhussan
Dr. Dimitris Tsiourvas
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- cancer nanomedicine
- lipid nanoparticles
- drug delivery
- radiotherapy enhancement
- nanocarriers
- tumor microenvironment
- nano-immunotherapy
- cancer vaccines
- stimuli-responsive systems
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