Gold nanoparticle-based drug nanocarriers as a targeted drug delivery system platform for cancer therapeutics: a systematic review

Cancer was the world’s second major cause of death. Several treatments were available, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, and surgery. However, they are restricted due to their risk to normal cells, their ability to destroy the immune system, and conferring increased risk of secondary cancer development. Nanotechnology was extensively researched and used in cancer treatment because nanoparticles could play an essential role in drug delivery. Furthermore, nanoparticle drug delivery systems have been shown to help overcome cancer-related drug resistance. Gold nanoparticles have unique physical, chemical, and biological properties, making them suitable candidates for non-toxic drug carriers. Because of their nanorange size, surface modifications of gold nanoparticles could improve their stability, minimize nanoparticle aggregation, and enhance attachment to anti-cancer agents and target cells, further increasing their ability to penetrate cell membranes and reduce toxicity. This review aims to discuss the current research in targeting drug delivery for anti-cancer agents using gold nanoparticles. By conducting a literature search through the PubMed and Scopus database up to April 2022 using the term gold nanoparticles, targeted drug delivery, chemotherapy, gene therapy, and cancer, this review summarized report on the implementation of gold nanoparticles for targeted drug-delivery systems for cancer therapeutics. The targeting ligands included folic acid, aptamers, hyaluronic acid, glutathione, peptides, and antibodies. According to the findings of studies, implementing gold nanoparticles as nanocarriers significantly improves drug delivery of anti-cancer agents to cancer cells without affecting other untargeted cells. Enhanced cell uptake, increase in drug toxicity, inhibition of tumor growth, and selective drug target are also reported to be the advantages of gold nanoparticle-based targeted drug delivery carriers.