Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Pharmacol. Jun 9, 2015; 4(2): 168-171
Published online Jun 9, 2015. doi: 10.5497/wjp.v4.i2.168
Enhanced permeability and retention effect based nanomedicine, a solution for cancer
Jun Fang
Jun Fang, Research Institute of Drug Delivery Science, Sojo University, Kumamoto 860-0082, Japan
Jun Fang, Laboratory of Microbiology and Oncology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science, Sojo University, Kumamoto 860-0082, Japan
Author contributions: Fang J solely contributed to this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest: No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Jun Fang, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Research Institute of Drug Delivery Science, Sojo University, Ikeda 4-22-1, Kumamoto 860-0082, Japan. fangjun@ph.sojo-u.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-96-3264137 Fax: +81-96-3265048
Received: January 23, 2015
Peer-review started: January 24, 2015
First decision: February 7, 2015
Revised: March 6, 2015
Accepted: April 1, 2015
Article in press: April 7, 2015
Published online: June 9, 2015
Abstract

Tumor-targeting is becoming more and more important for cancer chemotherapy. Though many molecular-target drugs have been developed in the past two decades which shed some light on targeted tumor therapy, clinical results of those molecular-target drugs are not so encouraging especially for solid tumors, problems mostly relating to the heterogeneity and mutations of target molecules in human solid tumors. More general tumor-targeting strategy is thus anticipated. In this regard, the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect which is a unique phenomenon of solid tumors based on the anatomical and pathophysiological nature of tumor blood vessels, is receiving more and more attentions. This EPR effect now served as a standard for tumor-targeted macromolecular anticancer therapy, namely nanomedicine. Many nanoplatforms have been developed as targeted drug delivery systems, including liposome, polymeric micelles, polymer conjugate, nanoparticles. Ample macromolecular drugs are now approved for clinical use or in clinical stage development, all of which by taking advantage of EPR effect, show superior in vivo pharmacokinetics and remarkable tumor selectivity, resulting in improved antitumor effects with less adverse effects. We thus believe EPR-based nanomedicine will be a solution for cancer in the future, whereas further consideration of factors involved in EPR effect and strategies to augment/improve EPR effect are warranted.

Keywords: Enhanced permeability and retention effect, Tumor targeting, Nanomedicine, Cancer, Chemotherapy, Polymeric therapeutics, Macromolecular drugs

Core tip: Current cancer chemotherapy is less effective with adverse side effects, mostly due to lack of tumor-selectivity. Thus tumor-targeting is known the key for successful chemotherapy. Molecular-target therapy is such a strategy but the clinical results are disappointing probably due to the diversity of cancer-related molecules and enormous mutations. A more general tumor-targeting strategy is based on the unique physiophathological and anatomical features of solid tumors - enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect. Accordingly nanomedicine has been developed, with promising therapeutic potential and very less side effects. We thus believe EPR-based nanomedicine will be a solution for cancer in the future.