Targeted and Bioresponsive Drug Delivery System for Cancer Multidrug Resistance

Dear Colleagues,

The journal Pharmaceuticals is planning to publish a new Special Issue, entitled "Targeted and Bioresponsive Drug Delivery System for Cancer Multidrug Resistance”, and I am cordially inviting you to contribute with communications, research articles or high-quality review papers in this volume.

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. For the treatment of cancer in clinics, traditional chemotherapy remains an irreplaceable treatment option. However, this therapeutic approach is stymied by the resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapy, a phenomenon termed as “multidrug resistance (MDR)” that represents a major obstacle to effective therapeutic interventions against cancer in clinics. To overcome the limitations of existing therapies such as nonspecific tissue distribution and uncontrolled drug release, targeted and bioresponsive drug delivery systems (DDSs) have received much attention in recent years to achieve rapid intratumoral or intracellular drug release and thereby an enhanced anti-tumor effect. Compared to the heathy tissue, the tumor microenvironment is unique and well-equipped with internal stimulus signal molecules, which open a new path forward for the design and development of targeted and bioresponsive DDSs for controlled and enhanced drug release in the tumor tissue, the key to fighting the MDR of cancer.

This Special Issue welcomes research and review papers with a focus on recent advances in the design of smart materials capable of responding to the abnormal pathophysiological features of the tumor microenvironment, application of various bioresponsive DDSs for targeting different stimulus signals in the tumor microenvironment and for the controlled release of therapeutic moiety (drug, macromolecules, etc.) to overcome cancer MDR, as well as challenges and future directions of targeted and bioresponsive DDSs for the effective treatment of MDR of cancer.

Dr. Golam Kibria
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceuticals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• cancer multidrug resistance
• bioresponsive materials
• targeted drug delivery
• bioresponsive DDS
• challenges to bioresponsive DDS
• future direction of bioresponsive DDS