Nanomedicine for colon-targeted drug delivery: strategies focusing on inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer

The nanostructured drug-delivery systems for colon-targeted drug delivery are a promising field of research for localized diseases particularly influencing the colonic region, in other words, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, and colorectal cancer. There are various drug-delivery approaches designed for effective colonic disease treatment, including stimulus-based formulations (enzyme-triggered systems, pH-sensitive systems) and magnetically driven drug-delivery systems. In addition, targeted drug delivery by means of overexpressed receptors also offers site specificity and reduces drug resistance. It also covers GI tract-triggered emulsifying systems, nontoxic plant-derived nanoformulations as advanced drug-delivery techniques as well as nanotechnology-based clinical trials toward colonic diseases. This review gives insight into advancements in colon-targeted drug delivery to meet site specificity or targeted drug-delivery requirements.