CONTEXT

While the requirements for cancer treatment are clear and the available nanofabrication methods are improving substantially, there is still no general and robust approach available for rationally designing and realizing well-defined nanosized carrier systems with respect to the clinical needs. Nanostructures for curing cancer are seriously limited by several factors such as the potential aggregation of the nanoparticles in physiological media, their short circulation time in vivo due to elimination from the blood stream by macrophages of the mononuclear phagocytic system (MPS), or significant uptake by the liver before reaching any target. Other important drawbacks for potential applications include

a low loading capacity, a lack of site-specific targeting, or limited release of the carried biologically active compound at the site of interest.