94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
REVIEW article
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Nanobiotechnology
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1548588
Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
Provisionally accepted- University of Bahrain, Sakhir, Bahrain
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
A notable increase in cancer-related fatalities and morbidity worldwide is attributed to drug resistance. The factors contributing to drug resistance include drug efflux via ABC transporters, apoptosis evasion, epigenetic alterations, DNA repair mechanisms, and the tumor microenvironment, among others. Systemic toxicities and resistance associated with conventional cancer diagnostics and therapies have led to the development of alternative approaches, such as nanotechnology, to enhance diagnostic precision and improve therapeutic outcomes. Nanomaterial, including carbon nanotubes, dendrimers, polymeric micelles, and liposomes, have shown significant benefits in cancer diagnosis and treatment due to their unique physicochemical properties, such as biocompatibility, stability, enhanced permeability, retention characteristics, and targeted delivery. Building on these advantages, this review is conducted through comprehensive analysis of recent literature to explore the principal mechanisms of drug resistance, the potential of nanomaterials to revolutionize selective drug delivery and cancer treatment. Additionally, the strategies employed by nanomaterials to overcome drug resistance in tumors, such as efflux pump inhibition, multidrug loading, targeted delivery to the tumor microenvironment, and gene silencing therapies are discussed in detail. Furthermore, we examine the challenges associated with nanomaterials that limit their application and impede their transition to clinical use.
Keywords: Nanoparticles, nanomaterials, Drug delivery, targeted strategies, Nanotechnology, Cancer, diagnosis, Treatment
Received: 19 Dec 2024; Accepted: 15 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sabir, Thani and Solangi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shazia Sabir, University of Bahrain, Sakhir, Bahrain
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.