Self-Assembled Nanoparticles as Cancer Therapeutic Agents

Most therapeutic agents for cancer are currently suffering from the shortcomings of poor solubility, severe side effects, and multidrug resistance. Supramolecular self-assembly (SSA) in nanomedicines is a promising way to overcome these obstacles due to the distinguished properties of noncovalent self-assembly such as functional diversity, easy stimulus-response, high biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Moreover, it is more potential to transform them from lab to clinic. In this review, based on lots of state-of-the-art studies, a summary is presented about the recent advances in SSA for cancer treatment, with the introduction of noncovalent driving forces, classifications, design, and applications of multifunctional self-assembled nanoparticles (SANPs). Finally, the prospects of SANPs on both developing drugs and clinical transformation are discussed.