ABSTRACT
Phytochemicals offer a great opportunity to design effective cancer therapeutics to counter the rising cancer epidemic. However, their clinical utility is curbed due to low water solubility and low bioavailability. Further, low-dose targeted therapeutics help minimize possible side effects and enable an overall increase in cancer tissue specific accumulation. These limitations and specifications may be effectively addressed by formulating nanoparticle carriers for phytochemicals. These could be metal or magnetic nanoparticles and lipid- and micelle-based nanocarriers coated with phytochemicals. Specific formulation ensures consistent release, high tissue accumulation and, by adding specific ligands, targeted delivery via receptor-mediated endocytosis can be attempted. This leads to a synergistic anticarcinogenic response. This chapter catalogues recent in vitro and in vivo animal studies that utilize nanocarriers to deliver phytochemicals, such as genistein, resveratrol, curcumin, hesperetin (alone or in combination with other phytochemicals), or chemotherapeutic drugs to cancer cells. The effects of these nanophytochemicals on different cancer cells and the modulation of hallmark capabilities have also been documented. Further, mechanistic studies to escalate the understanding and refinement of these delivery systems will pave the way for advancement in cancer therapeutics.
