Sustainable and eco-friendly anticancer nanomedicine development using natural antioxidant-functionalized amphiphilic chitosan: Review of design strategies, challenges, and therapeutic advances

Natural antioxidant-integrated amphiphilic chitosan has emerged as a promising platform for advanced drug delivery and cancer therapy, supporting sustainable and eco-friendly nanomedicine development. This review summarizes recent progress in the design, chemistry, physicochemical properties, and chemotherapeutic applications of amphiphilic chitosan systems functionalized with natural antioxidants. Chitosan, a biodegradable and biocompatible polysaccharide, can be chemically modified to form amphiphilic structures capable of self-assembling into nanoscale carriers such as polymeric micelles. The integration of natural antioxidant may help mitigate oxidative stress and reduce the side effects associated with conventional chemotherapy. Such multifunctional nanocarriers improve drug solubility, stability, and bioavailability while enabling controlled and targeted delivery of chemotherapeutic agents. In this review, the structural modification of chitosan, the properties of self-assembled nanostructures of modified chitosan and current status of antioxidant-integration in chitosan-based amphiphilic nanocarriers for improving cancer treatment outcomes and developing safer, more effective, and environmentally sustainable nanomedicine-based therapeutic systems are assessed.

Abstract from PubMed (PMID 42987720). This entry was added automatically by our daily literature monitor because it matches the topics we follow; read the full paper at the original source.