Nanotechnology has recently provided exciting platforms in the field of anticancer research with promising potentials for improving drug delivery efficacy and treatment outcomes. Nanoparticles (NPs) possess different advantages over the micro and bulk therapeutic agents, including their capability to carry high payloads of drugs, with prolonged half-life, reduced toxicity of the drugs, and increased targeting efficiency. The wide variety of nanovectors, coupled with different conjugation and encapsulation methods available for different theranostic agents provide promising opportunities to fine-tune the pharmacological properties of these agents for more effective cancer treatment methods. This review discusses applications of NPs-assisted chemotherapy in preclinical and clinical settings and recent advances in design and synthesis of different nanocarriers for chemotherapeutic agents. Moreover, physicochemical properties of different nanocarriers, their impacts on different tumor targeting strategies and effective parameters for efficient targeted drug delivery are discussed. Finally, the current approved NPs-assisted chemotherapeutic agents for clinical applications and under different phases of clinical trials are discussed.

纳米技术最近在抗癌研究领域提供了令人兴奋的平台，具有改善药物递送功效和治疗结果的潜力。纳米颗粒（NPs）与微量和整体治疗剂相比具有不同的优势，包括它们能够携带高载荷的药物，具有延长的半衰期，降低的药物毒性以及更高的靶向效率。各种各样的纳米载体，以及可用于不同治疗剂的不同缀合和包囊方法，为微调这些剂的药理特性提供了有希望的机会，从而可用于更有效的癌症治疗方法。这篇综述讨论了NPs辅助化学疗法在临床前和临床环境中的应用，以及设计和合成不同纳米载体作为化学治疗剂的最新进展。此外，讨论了不同纳米载体的理化性质，它们对不同肿瘤靶向策略的影响以及有效靶向药物递送的有效参数。最后，讨论了当前批准用于临床应用和处于不同临床试验阶段的NPs辅助化学治疗剂。