The section acts as a bridge to “place” the need of this investigation with the merits and demerits of the past and present outcomes. Cancer is the term derived from the greek word Karkinos which mean CRAB. Hippocrates used the term for the first time because of the fact that the large tumours have a figure of the crab with its mass and vessels resembling to the body and legs of it. Cancer literally meaning tumour, in medical usage refers neoplasm “new growth”. Tumour is said to be “benign” when its cytology and gross characteristics are considered to be localized and “malignant” when it can destroy the adjacent structure to invade distinct sites. Being a multi-process disorder the cancer is defined as an “abnormal mass of tissue, the growth of which exceeds and is uncoordinated with that of the normal tissues and persists in the same manner after the cessation of the stimuli which evoked the change. The Fig 1 provides the basic molecular pathogenesis of the cancer. Cancer being one of the dread diseases is classified into more than 200 types of which
bladder, lung, breast, melanoma, colon and rectal, non-Hodgkin lymphoma endometrial,
pancreatic, renal cell, prostate, leukemia and thyroid cancer are commonly diagnosed [3].
However, based on its histological pattern it is broadly grouped as Hematologic (ex:
lymphoma, leukemia, etc.) and Solid tumour (ex: breast, neck, overian, and GIT cancer etc.)
Overall, the dual ligand nanoparticulate drug delivery system HA-albumin and HA-gelatin
nanoparticles of PTX or DTX significantly gets targeted to the tumour site with prolonged
half-life and better solubility. The simultaneous blockage of CD44 receptors and SPARC
protein by nanoparticles containing HA and albumin might have influenced the significant
change in their concentration at tumour site. In case of formulations containing combination
of HA and gelatin, the MMPs are the target molecules along with CD44. The gelatin focuses
these MMPs. Thus the formulations are expected to have better therapeutic efficacy in
treatment of breast cancer. However, further research at the pre-clinical or clinical level is in
need to understand the status of any synergistic action involved as the hyaluronan can readily
retard the growth of cancer. The gelatin given as external source may also attribute to the
synergism as degradation of extravascular component is prevented. Further investigations on
tumour reduction efficacy, survival rate, and targeting efficacy towards various cell lines (in
vivo) etc may orient these dual drug delivery systems to commercial application