Natural products and polymeric nanocarriers for cancer treatment: a review

Cancer is one of the most lethal disease that affects humans. Many anticancer agents have been developed but have downsides such as toxicity, affordability and limits of the administered dose. Alternatively, natural anticancer products are promising due to their non-toxic nature. Indeed, natural anticancer products have doubled the human life span in twentieth century. Moreover, over 60% of approved drugs and drug candidates against cancer are of natural origin. Yet, natural drugs have limitations such as non-specific action, low aqueous solubility and reduced bioavailability. These limitations can be circumvented by delivering drugs using polymeric nanocarriers. For instance, polylactic acid and polylactic-co-glycolic acid have been used as carriers in the medical field for a very long time. About 20 products based on these polymers have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and European Medicine. Polymeric nanocarriers are versatile and have potential to meet actual challenges in the delivery of natural products for cancer treatment. Here we review natural products in treating cancer with focus on polymeric nanocarriers.