Nanobiomaterials such as peptide-based nanoparticles (NPs), poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA)-based NPs, aluminum salt–based NPs, carbon nanotubes, and polydopamine core-shell NPs, are rapidly advancing our therapeutic strategies for applications in various devastating cancers that are hard to treat with conventional therapies. This Special Section, published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, is a collection of reviews and research papers discussing advantages and disadvantages of NPs, their clinical applications, and in vitro and preclinical in vivo studies focusing on their use as potential therapeutic strategies for metastatic breast cancer.

An opening review by Mishra and coworkers outlines the advantages such as biocompatibility, biophysical and biochemical properties, and enhancing drug targetabilities and reducing nonspecific drug effects of small peptide-based nano delivery systems that can be used for diagnosis and therapy clinically (Singh et al., 2024). Conversely, an in vitro research study by Mao and his group outlines the neurotoxic disadvantages of aluminum salt–based NPs as adjuvants for therapeutic cancer vaccines (Chen et al., 2024). A following review by Towner, Dissanayake, and Ahmed outlines clinical advances of lead compound PLGA-based NPs for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) as well as current clinical therapies that may be beneficial when combined with NP composites (Towner et al., 2024). In keeping with the breast cancer theme, an in vitro and preclinical in vivo research study in mice by Harrison and his group presents a photothermal therapy using anti-PD-1-targeted carbon nanotubes as a potential treatment strategy for metastatic breast cancer (Faria et al., 2024); which is followed by an in vitro research investigation by Ahmed and her group that focuses on the use of biocompatible polydopamine core-shell NPs as a potential therapy for breast cancer (Steeves et al., 2024).

In summary, this Special Section on “Nanotherapeutics in Cancer Research” highlights the importance of basic, translational, and clinical research on different NP strategies, including their advantages and disadvantages, that can be used as therapies against hard-to-treat cancers, and also provides a comprehensive glimpse of the current state of research in the field.

FootnotesReceived April 4, 2024.Accepted April 5, 2024.

This work received no external funding.

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest with the contents of this article.

dx.doi.org/10.1124/jpet.124.002257.

AbbreviationsNPnanoparticlePLGApoly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)Copyright © 2024 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics