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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 14, 2016; 22(2): 582-599
Published online Jan 14, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i2.582
Insight to drug delivery aspects for colorectal cancer
Arvind Gulbake, Aviral Jain, Ashish Jain, Ankit Jain, Sanjay K Jain
Arvind Gulbake, Center for Interdisciplinary Research, D.Y. Patil University, Kolhapur 416006, Maharashtra, India
Aviral Jain, Pharmaceutics Research Laboratory, Department of Pharmaceutics, Ravishankar College of Pharmacy, Bhopal 462010, Madhya Pradesh, India
Ashish Jain, Ankit Jain, Sanjay K Jain, Pharmaceutics Research Projects Laboratory, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dr. Hari Singh Gour Central University, Sagar 470003, Madhya Pradesh, India
Author contributions: All the authors contributed to this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Sanjay K Jain, Professor, Pharmaceutics Research Projects Laboratory, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dr. Hari Singh Gour Central University, Sagar 470003, Madhya Pradesh, India. drskjainin@yahoo.com
Telephone: +91-7582-265457
Received: April 29, 2015
Peer-review started: May 11, 2015
First decision: June 25, 2015
Revised: August 29, 2015
Accepted: November 30, 2015
Article in press: December 1, 2015
Published online: January 14, 2016
Processing time: 252 Days and 14.6 Hours
Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer diagnosed worldwide in human beings. Surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and targeted therapies are the conventional four approaches which are currently used for the treatment of CRC. The site specific delivery of chemotherapeutics to their site of action would increase effectiveness with reducing side effects. Targeted oral drug delivery systems based on polysaccharides are being investigated to target and deliver chemotherapeutic and chemopreventive agents directly to colon and rectum. Site-specific drug delivery to colon increases its concentration at the target site, and thus requires a lower dose and hence abridged side effects. Some novel therapies are also briefly discussed in article such as receptor (epidermal growth factor receptor, folate receptor, wheat germ agglutinin, VEGF receptor, hyaluronic acid receptor) based targeting therapy; colon targeted proapoptotic anticancer drug delivery system, gene therapy. Even though good treatment options are available for CRC, the ultimate therapeutic approach is to avert the incidence of CRC. It was also found that CRCs could be prevented by diet and nutrition such as calcium, vitamin D, curcumin, quercetin and fish oil supplements. Immunotherapy and vaccination are used nowadays which are showing better results against CRC.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Receptor based targeted therapy; Gene delivery

Core tip: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one the major worldwide health problems owing to its high prevalence and mortality rates. It is reported that over 40000 of the adult United Kingdom population are diagnosed with CRC each year. In case of early diagnosis CRC is also one of the most curable types of cancer (cure rates > 90%). This article gives an overview study of causes and etiology of colon cancer, distinct stages from stage from 0 to IV, some novel therapies are also briefly discussed in article such as receptor (epidermal growth factor receptor, folate receptor, wheat germ agglutinin, VEGF receptor, hyaluronic acid receptor) based targeting therapy; colon targeted proapoptotic anticancer drug delivery system, gene therapy. Recent developments in screening, prevention, biomarker and genomic analysis, nutritional supplement therapy, vaccination, and chemotherapy have improved detection and significant reduction in mortality statistics.