Drug delivery systems based on poly(e-caprolactone) for cancer treatment Sáez-Fernández, E. Ruiz Martínez, María A. Arias Mediano, José Luis Anti-tumor drug Cancer Controlled release Drug carriers Drug delivery Polymeric particles Poly(ε-caprolactone) Chemotherapy agents have little or no specificity over cancer cells, resulting in low therapeutic concentrations at the tumor site (a consequence of a broad systemic distribution), and severe side effects. With the aim of avoiding cancer therapy failure, several approaches such as design of new anticancer drugs, chemical engineering of conventional drugs and development of drug delivery systems have been proposed. The objective is to enhance drug localization at the tumor region (by controlling its biodistribution profile) and, therefore, to increase the anti-tumor efficacy (even in multi-drug resistant tumors), while reducing systemic side effects. One of the most promising approaches to the problem is the development of drug nanocarriers based on the polymer poly(e-caprolactone). In this review we will focus our attention on these polymeric colloids, particularly on the most significant characteristics and formulation procedures, and on their use as nanoplatforms for the delivery of chemotherapy agents to the tumor site. Furthermore, the most recent in vitro and in vivo investigations on the subject are extensively reviewed. 2013-07-05T09:20:10Z 2013-07-05T09:20:10Z 2009 journal article Sáez-Fernández, E.; Ruiz Martínez, M.A.; Arias Mediano, J.L. Drug delivery systems based on poly(e-caprolactone) for cancer treatment. Ars Pharm, 2009; 50(2): 83-96. [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/27466] 0004-2927 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/27466 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ open access Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License Universidad de Granada, Facultad de Farmacia