Reza Zeinali, Davood Zaeifi, S. Yasaman Zolfaghari-Moghaddam, Manash K. Paul, Esmaeil Biazar
Nanocarriers have shown optimal therapeutic outcomes through their great potential for encapsulating and effectively delivering bioactive compounds into target cells by navigating a series of intracellular barriers. In this review, drug resistance and cell barriers impeding the drug delivery process have been discussed. Besides, the efficiency of nanocarriers, along with recent advances and novel strategies to overcome drug resistance, increase cell internalization, promote intracellular trafficking, target subcellular locations, and control drug release, has been reviewed. Different types of nanocarriers from the viewpoint of cancer treatment have been introduced, and their prospect as drug delivery vehicles for cancer therapy have been visualized. Hence, this review may contribute to developing nanocarriers for effective and precise drug delivery to a wide range of cells and intracellular targets.