Harnessing the Power of D‐Alpha‐Tocopheryl Polyethylene Glycol Succinate‐Based Nanoparticles for Targeted Breast Cancer Therapy

Breast cancer (BC) continues to be the most common cancer affecting women globally, posing significant therapeutic challenges due to limited therapeutic efficacy, non-specific drug targeting, systemic toxicity, and the emergence of chemoresistance. These hurdles emphasize the critical need for novel and effective treatment strategies. Nanomedicine has revolutionized cancer therapy, especially D-alpha-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol succinate (TPGS)-based nanoparticles (TPGS-NPs), which have emerged as a promising strategy due to their enhanced therapeutic potential. TPGS, an amphiphilic derivative of Vitamin E, not only enhances the solubility, stability, and bioavailability of lipophilic drugs but also exhibits intrinsic anti-BC properties. The incorporation of TPGS into NPs significantly enhances their physicochemical properties. Further, the engineering of TPGS-NPs with targeting ligands significantly improves their specificity towards cancer cells. Also, TPGS-NPs show great potential to improve photothermal and photodynamic therapies due to their excellent physicochemical properties. Moreover, TPGS-NPs demonstrate an excellent ability for gene (plasmid DNA, siRNA, and miRNA) delivery by enhancing stability and transfection efficiency. This review explores the multifaceted role of TPGS and the role of different TPGS-NPs in circumventing the limitations of conventional chemotherapy in BC treatment. Overall, developing TPGS-NPs offers a versatile and multifaceted approach to achieve better therapeutic outcomes against BC. This article is categorized under: Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease.