Liposomes with triggered content release for cancer therapy

Cancer currently accounts for 13 percent of worldwide deaths. This could be largely attributed to limited effectiveness of conventional drug delivery methods resulting in reduced accumulation of therapeutics at tumor sites compared to healthy organs, and in low drug bioavailability. Nanocarriers capable of effectively improving localization, accumulation, and release of therapeutic agents at the tumors could become the preferred drug transport strategy for the therapy of several types of cancer. Liposomal nanocarriers, in particular, have attracted considerable interest. The release mechanisms of entrapped anticancer agents from liposomes rely mostly on applying our understanding of the physical behavior of lipid membranes to engineer successful solutions. In this review, we intend to provide some insight into the different triggers and different mechanisms of membrane destabilization that are currently pursued to result in effective content release.