Abstract

Lung cancer has the highest death rate among all cancers and is largely due to late-stage diagnosis and poor prognosis. Chemotherapy, which is used to kill cancer cells is also associated with significant side effects. A dvances in nanotechnology have helped to overcome these adverse effects, and paved the way to precision medicine in cancer treatment. Nanomedicine is an evolving field that employs modern tools and techniques for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Novel nanocarriers for anti-cancer agents have several advantages over conventional drug delivery systems. They include selective drug targeting, combination therapy, stealth mechanism, low adverse effects, and longer residence time in circulation. Polymeric nanoparticles (P NPs) as carriers for anti-cancer drugs and genes have an excellent track record for their efficacy with novel strategies to target tumor cells. This chapter covers types of polymeric nanoparticles based on different structures and composition, inhalable NPs for drug and gene delivery, targets for active targeting followed by issues and concerns related to polymeric nanoparticles.