Advances in Nanocarriers for Cancer Treatment: Applications of Halloysite Nanotubes (HNTs) in Solid Tumor Targeted Therapy

After a long history of treatments, cancer continues to be one of the most prevalent causes mortalities in worldwide. Chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery are frequently conventional treatments for cancer management, and provide some benefits; nevertheless, there are plenty of adverse effects, a lack of specificity, considerable off-target effects, and multidrug resistance. These issues led to a challenging situation in solid and liquid tumors. The Nanotechnology approach opens a new and versatile avenue to help scientists in this regard, for example, the delivery of medicinal drugs, which in turn facilitates the targeted cells in a more targeted and tightly controlled manner. Halloysite Nanotubes (HNTs) gained a lot of attention during these years among all of the available nano-carriers because of their special tubular structure, biocompatibility, variable surface chemistry, etc. Using the HNTs simultaneously enhances treatment efficacy and decreases systemic toxicity, making it a good candidate instead of a conventional delivery system that is used in treating solid cancers. Numerous studies have focused on the development of HNT-based nanocarriers for solid tumor therapy. In this review, we want to summarize these recently investigated studies. Subjects considered include mechanisms of action, strategies to overcome tumor-specific barriers, and clinical implications.