Nano-Based Drug Delivery and Targeting to Overcome Drug Resistance of Ovarian Cancers

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Ovarian cancer (OvCa) is a prominent cause of cancer death in women due to missed early signs and late diagnoses. Once a woman is diagnosed with OvCa, the standard treatment is surgery to remove the tumor, followed by chemotherapy. Many women go into remission after treatment, but there is always a strong possibility that the cancer will return. If the cancer returns in less than 6 months, the patient is considered platinum-resistant and undergoes a new treatment plan. Drug resistance occurs when the cancer cells become resistant to the administered drug during initial chemotherapy, causing the drug to become ineffective. This is a considerable challenge in the cancer field, and many researchers are looking for strategies to overcome this drug resistance. However, nanotechnology, natural products, and RNA interference therapy are strategies that can enhance cancer therapy to overcome drug resistance in cancer cells. ABSTRACT: Ovarian cancer (OvCa) is a destructive malignancy due to difficulties in early detection and late advanced-stage diagnoses, leading to high morbidity and mortality rates for women. Currently, the quality treatment for OvCa includes tumor debulking surgery and intravenous platinum-based chemotherapy. However, numerous patients either succumb to the disease or undergo relapse due to drug resistance, such as to platinum drugs. There are several mechanisms that cause cancer cells’ resistance to chemotherapy, such as inactivation of the drug, alteration of the drug targets, enhancement of DNA repair of drug-induced damage, and multidrug resistance (MDR). Some targeted therapies, such as nanoparticles, and some non-targeted therapies, such as natural products, reverse MDR. Nanoparticle targeting can lead to the reversal of MDR by allowing direct access for agents to specific tumor sites. Natural products have many anti-cancer properties that adversely regulate the factors contributing to MDR. The present review displays the current problems in OvCa treatments that lead to resistance and proposes using nanotechnology and natural products to overcome drug resistance.