Target Delivery from Modified Polymers to Cancer Treatment

Several kinds of polymeric particles designed for drug delivery purposes can be successfully synthesized via heterogeneous polymerization processes. Due to the high ability to produce tailor-made polymers, suspension, mass-suspension, suspension-emulsion, miniemulsion and emulsion polymerization processes deserve special attention in the drug delivery field, as the process operating conditions play a significant role on both the morphology and the macromolecular architecture of the polymeric materials. The present paper also focuses on the main features of important polymer system used in drug delivery, as well as, the cancer therapy, exploring the receptor-based targeting of therapeutics and the cancer recognition mechanisms given special attention to the combined action of immunotherapy and chemotherapy. Dissolution models are also discussed due to their importance to the prediction of the dissolution process and drug release in the blood, providing fundamental insight into the dissolution profiles of the drug along the treatment time.