Chitosan microsphere for the delivery of chemotherapeutic agents: Paclitaxel as a model

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Basma Yahya Al-Najjar, Saad A. Hussain. Chitosan microsphere for the delivery of chemotherapeutic agents: Paclitaxel as a model. Asian J Pharm Clin Res 2017; 10(8):1-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.22159/ajpcr.2017.v10i8.18765

Abstract

Chitosan has unique physicochemical and biological features that suggest it is a good candidate for the development of safe and effective drug delivery systems. Linking drug molecules with chitosan through a functional spacer enables the formulation of prodrugs that have appropriate pharmacological activities at specific desired sites. The development of formulations of targeted delivery systems for the chemotherapeutic agents, especially those with unfavorable pharmacokinetic features, like paclitaxel (PTX), can potentially alleviate the systemic cytotoxicity as well as direct therapy to the specific lesions. The main aim of this literature review is to critically evaluate the use of chitosan microspheres as a drug delivery system to enhance PTX distribution and efficacy at specific targeted sites.