Bridging the Gap of Drug Delivery in Colon Cancer: The Role of Chitosan and Pectin Based Nanocarriers System

Colon cancer is one of the most prevalent diseases, and traditional chemotherapy is has not proven to be beneficial in its treatment. It ranks second in terms of mortality due to all cancers for all ages. Lack of selectivity and poor bio distribution are the biggest challenges in developing potential therapeutic agents for treatment of colon cancer. Nanoparticles hold enormous prospective as an effective drug delivery system. The delivery systems employing the use of polymers like chitosan and pectin as carrier molecules ensure the maximum absorption of the drug, reduce unwanted side effects and also offer protection to the therapeutic agent from quick clearance or degradation thus allowing an increased amount of drug to reach the target tissue or cells. In this systematic review of published literature, authors have aimed to assess the role of chitosan and pectin as polymer carriers in colon targeted delivery of drugs in colon cancer therapy. This review summarizes the various studies employing the use of chitosan and pectin in colon targeted drug delivery systems.

Keywords: Carbohydrate polymers; Chitosan; Colon cancer; Drug carriers; Drug delivery; Pectin.