Recent advances and prospects in gemcitabine drug delivery systems

Cancer is a community health hazard which progress at a fatal rate in various countries across the globe. An agent used for chemotherapy should exhibit ideal properties to be an effective anticancer medicine. The chemotherapeutic medicines used for treatment of various cancers are, gemcitabine, paclitaxel, etoposide, methotrexate, cisplatin, doxorubicin and 5-fluorouracil. However, many of these agents present nonspecific systemic toxicity that prevents their treatment efficiency. Of all, gemcitabine has shown to be an active agent against colon, pancreatic, colon, ovarian, breast, head and neck and lung cancers in amalgamation with various anticancer agents. Gemcitabine is considered a gold-standard and the first FDA approved agent used as a monotherapy in management of advanced pancreatic cancers. However due to its poor pharmacokinetics, there is need of newer drug delivery system for efficient action. Nanotechnology has shown to be an emerging trend in field of medicine in providing novel modalities for cancer treatment. Various nanocarriers have the potential to deliver the drug at the desired site to obtain information about diagnosis and treatment of cancer. This review highlights on various nanocarriers like polymeric nanoparticles, solid lipid nanoparticles, mesoporous silica nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles, micelles, liposomes, dendrimers, gold nanoparticles and combination approaches for delivery of gemcitabine for cancer therapy. The co-encapsulation and concurrent delivery of Gem with other anticancer agents can enhance drug action at the cancer site with reduced side effects.