Poly(Amino Acid) Nanoparticles as a Promising Tool for Anticancer Therapeutics

The use of polymers for the synthesis of drug delivery systems started decades ago. Its privileges over the use of free drugs can be summarized in enhancing the drugs' pharmacokinetic properties, achieving tumor targeting, broadening the scope of drug delivery systems to be multifunctional, having better therapeutic outcome, and decreasing drug side effects. Natural poly amino acids (PAA) are an important category of polymers that can be used for drug, protein, and gene delivery. They are characterized by their biocompatibility and flexible physicochemical modifications. In this chapter, we summarize the classes of PAA, their synthesis, and their main applications as drug delivery systems for targeted cancer therapy.