Bionanomaterials for cancer therapy

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide after cardiovascular disease. The mortality rate of cancer has been reduced in recent times due to early diagnosis and effective therapy. Cancer treatment depends on the kind of cancer, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgical intervention, or a combination of these options. Regular chemotherapy is a treatment of the disease that obliterates malignant cells with drugs and stops the growth or proliferation of these cells. Despite the apparent benefits of chemotherapy, there are several disadvantages, including lack of efficacy in the long-term outcome because they failed to target cancer cells and toxicity due to nonspecific effects on normal cells. Thus, this chapter focuses on a new generation of medicine based on polymeric nanocomposites for the chemo drug carriers by controlling the release rate of the loaded drug over a prolonged period and reducing side effects of anticancer drugs.