Nano-drug delivery systems(nano-DDSs)play an important role in targeted cancer therapy. Due to the physiological characteristics of the body and the heterogenicity of tumor, intravenous delivery of anticancer agents carried by nano-DDSs from the injection site to their targeted sites is required to overcome multiple physiological and pathological barriers, including blood, tumor tissue, tumor cell and intracellular transportation. This review surveys emerging strategies for the development of novel nano-DDSs that can conquer the physiological and pathological barriers of tumor, which provides a great potential platform for safe and efficient cancer treatment.

To construct nanostructured lipid carriers(NLCs)with different particle sizes but the same other physicochemical properties, central composite design was adopted. Coumarin-6(C-6)was selected as the model drug due to its high lipophilicity and high fluorescence intensity. Physicochemical properties of NLCs with 100 nm, 200 nm and 300 nm in particle size could remain stable during certain time in K-R solution and PBS. Release experiments in vitro showed that cumulative release of C-6 in NLCs was less than 7% after 24 h. The MTT assay indicated that both blank NLCs and C-6 loaded NLCs showed low toxicity. To confirm the integrity of NLCs in gastrointestinal tract, DiR-loaded NLCs were prepared and the distribution in vivo was monitored by fluorescence imaging. After 6 h oral administration, intact DiR-loaded NLCs could stiu be found, suggesting that NLCs could be used to characterize the uptake in gastrointestinal tract.

Mesoporous silica nanoparticle as drug carrier has become the new research focus in the field of nano-drug delivery system in recent years. In this study, paclitaxel-loaded msesoporous silica nanoparticle(PTX@MSN)was manufactured by the solvent adsorption. In vitro studies revealed that PTX@MSN was well dispersed in aqueous medium with particle size of 250 nm, the potential of -(8. 01±1. 81)mV and drug loading efficiency of(23. 76±1. 14)%. PTX@MSN showed the sustained-release characteristics with the cumulative PTX of release(23. 62±2. 15)% at 24 h. In additions, the cytotoxicity investigation indicated that blank MSNs were biocompatible while PTX@MSN group showed improved in vitro anti-tumor activity against HepG2 cell when compared with Taxol group. In conclusion, MSN is a promising platform to build drug delivery systems for tumor therapy.

Limb and CNS expressed 1 like (LIX1L) is over-expressed in several types of tumors. However, the function of LIX1L in glucose metabolism and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression remains elusive. Here we report that LIX1L is over-expressed in human HCC tissues, which predicts unfavorable prognosis. LIX1L deficiency