Polymer nanomedicines for osteosarcoma therapy.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, various polymer nanoparticles have been developed as anticancer drug carriers to prolong blood circulation time and improve intratumoral accumulation, and then enhance the therapeutic efficacy on osteosarcoma. OBJECTIVE: To review the application and development of polymer nanomedicines for treatment of osteosarcoma based on latest related studies. METHODS: A computer-based online search of Web of Science, NCBI, and PubMed was performed to search publications published between January 1900 and June 2019 with the search terms "osteosarcoma; polymer; nanoparticle; controlled drug delivery; tumor therapy'. A total of 265 publications were screened out, and 107 of them regarding polymer nanoparticles for treatment of osteosarcoma were included in the final analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant bone tumor, mainly affecting children and adolescents. The long-term survival rate of osteosarcoma patients is low due to early lung metastasis and high local invasiveness. Although chemotherapy increases the survival rates of patients with osteosarcoma, its application potential is limited by severe side effects and drug resistance. Compared with traditional chemotherapy, polymer nanomedicines reduce the toxicity to healthy tissues, prolong the blood circulation time in vivo, and provide continuous release of chemotherapy drugs at the tumor sites, thereby improving the therapeutic efficacy. Therefore, polymer nanomedicines have great application prospects in the treatment of osteosarcoma because of their unique advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]