Active Drug Targeting for Cancer and Metabolic Disorders

Global research in cancer and metabolic disorders is at an all-time high, driven by a "significant surge" in publications and clinical trials between 2023 and 2025. Oncology remains the single largest area of biomedical research, accounting for roughly 41% of all global clinical trials in 2024. Over 1.1 million cancer-related research outputs are published globally each year. Publications in metabolic syndrome and related biomarkers have seen "consistent growth," with a notable spike in research volume starting in late 2023.

Nanocarrier-based drug delivery has emerged as a transformative strategy to address the therapeutic limitations associated with conventional treatments for cancer and metabolic disorders. Advances in nano-biochemistry and molecular medicine have enabled the design of multifunctional nanocarriers such as liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles, lipid nanoparticles, and nucleic acid-based systems that can improve pharmacokinetics, enhance cellular uptake, and facilitate targeted or stimuli-responsive drug release.

In oncology, nanocarriers support precision delivery of chemotherapeutics, biologics, and nucleic acids to tumor tissues, while in metabolic diseases they offer controlled modulation of biochemical pathways and improved tissue selectivity. Furthermore, emerging insights into membrane transport, metabolic reprogramming, and intracellular trafficking are accelerating translational nanomedicine.

This thematic issue aims to highlight innovative biochemical approaches, interdisciplinary technologies, and clinically relevant advances that can drive safer, more effective, and personalized therapeutic interventions.

This Special Issue welcomes contributions that improve our understanding about the precision delivery of drugs, antibodies, oligonucleotide and nucleic acid for cancer and metabolic diseases.
Potential areas of interest may include, but are not limited to:
● Active and passive tumor targeting
● Oligonucleotide and nucleic acid delivery for cancer and metabolic diseases
● Modulation of biochemical pathways in metabolic diseases
● Emerging insights into membrane transport, metabolic reprogramming, intracellular trafficking, etc.

Authors are welcome to submit articles presenting original studies or literature review work. Please consult the journal's information regarding Article Types, Author Guidelines, and Publishing Fees, or direct any questions to the Editorial Office: abp@frontierspartnerships.org.

Even though abstract submission is not mandatory, we encourage all interested researchers to submit a “manuscript summary” before submitting their article. Manuscript summaries do not have to coincide with the final abstract of the article.

Article types and fees

This Special Issue accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Special Issue description:

• Brief Research Report
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Special Issue accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Special Issue description:

• Brief Research Report
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Active tumor targeting, Antibody targeting, Nucleic acid based targeted delivery, Metabolomics, aptamers, antisen tumor targeting