Emerging nanotechnologies in drug delivery: Insights and regulatory challenges

With the evolving unnatural lifestyle of human beings, the potential difficulties also evolve. One such threatening disaster is cancer, now a prevalent disease affecting more than millions of people worldwide. Researchers have been preparing potential drugs to be used in cancer treatment. The main focus has been plant-derived compounds due to their minimum side effects, solubility, stability, and low toxicity. Unfortunately, chemotherapy mismanages to fulfill the aforesaid advantages of plant-derived compounds. Including nanocarriers in the fields has opened a new direction by increasing solubility, enhancing circulation, and improving their uptake by cancer cells. Several research efforts have been made to integrate plant-derived compounds as nanocarriers for cancer therapy. Plant-derived polysaccharides and polyphenols have been found to be associated with mechanical support, targeting ligands, or triggering pH responses for drug release. Besides its promising use as an anti-cancer agent, nanoparticles are also being developed to treat neurodegenerative disorders, becoming a public health threat as the global population ages. As the current neurodegenerative disorders therapy regimens could only provide symptomatic relief, nanotechnology techniques are promising as they were able to slow neuron death, reduce inflammation, and improve medicine transport to the brain. This chapter is a narrative review of the different types of green nanocarriers and their potential role in treating cancer and neurodegenerative disorders.