Understanding nano-bio interactions to improve nanocarriers for drug delivery

The ability of cancer-targeted nanoparticles (NPs) to reach their site of action and evoke a desired biological response after intravenous injection is critical to achieve clinically significant in vivo efficacy. Throughout their journey in the body, NPs must successfully traverse biological environments such as blood circulation and tumor microenvironments. The interactions that occur at the interface between NPs and biological components are complex, requiring a thorough understanding of the “nano-bio” interactions to design NPs with maximal therapeutic indices. In this article, we review the challenges presented by the multiscale, important biocompartments that NPs face, describe the crucial nano-bio interactions present at each stage, and discuss potential strategies to overcome those challenges. This review suggests design considerations for NPs to optimally modulate their physicochemical properties to achieve desired biological responses, which is expected to aid chemists, engineers, and clinical scientists to design and develop highly effective delivery platforms for cancer therapy.