REVIEW article
Front. Drug Deliv.
Sec. Technological and Methodological Advances in Drug Delivery
Volume 5 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fddev.2025.1596964
Advanced drug delivery systems for oral squamous cell carcinoma: A comprehensive review of nanotechnology-based and other innovative approaches
Provisionally accepted
- 1Drug Delivery Laboratory, Department of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile., Santiago, Chile
- 2Advanced Center for Chronic Diseases, University of Chile, Santiago, Santiago Metropolitan Region (RM), Chile
- 3Center of New Drugs for Hypertension (CENDHY), Santiago 8380492, Chile, Santiago, Chile
- 4Department of Pathology and Oral Medicine, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Chile, Santiago, Santiago Metropolitan Region (RM), Chile
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Oral cancer, particularly oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), poses significant challenges due to its aggressiveness, high metastatic potential, and resistance to conventional therapies. Recent advancements in drug delivery systems (DDS), including nanotechnology, intelligent hydrogels, lipid nanoparticles, and photodynamic therapy (PDT), offer innovative solutions for targeted treatment. These DDS utilize tumorspecific stimuli, such as pH variations, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and enzymatic activity, to achieve precise drug release while minimizing systemic toxicity. Cutting-edge technologies, such as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and artificial intelligence (AI), are enhancing the precision and personalization of DDS. Combination therapies integrating chemotherapy, PDT, and immunotherapy show promise in overcoming current limitations. Despite significant progress, challenges remain in scalability, patient-specific customization, and safety assessments. This review synthesizes the state-ofthe-art in DDS for OSCC, highlighting future directions and the need for interdisciplinary collaboration to improve therapeutic outcomes and patient quality of life.
Keywords: oral cancer, oral squamous cell carcinoma, Drug Delivery Systems, Nanotechnology, Lipid nanoparticles, Intelligent hydrogels, Photodynamic therapy, Immunotherapy
Received: 20 Mar 2025; Accepted: 04 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Herrada Céspedes, Reyes and Morales. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Javier O Morales, Drug Delivery Laboratory, Department of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile., Santiago, Chile
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.