Table 4. Summary of in vitro and in vivo anticancer evaluations of nanoformulations encapsulating cinnamic acid and its derivatives, including key physicochemical parameters, tested cell lines, IC₅₀ values, and therapeutic outcomes.

Type of nanocarrier	Type of cinnamic acid derivative	Size (nm)	PDI	ZP (mV)	EE%	DLC%	Target cells	Advantages	Reference
Zinc oxide NPs	D. tortuosa extract, including chlorogenic acid, coffeic acid, coumaric acid, ferulic acid, and cinnamic acid	From 9.26 to 31.18	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Caco-2, A549, and WI38 cell lines	The IC50 values for A549 cells were 193.12 and 83.47 μg mL−1 for the extract and the zinc oxide NPs, respectively. For Caco-2 cells, the IC50 values were 136.12 μg mL−1 for the extract and 50.81 μg mL−1 for the zinc oxide NPs	83
α-Fe2O3 NPs	SRL extract containing chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, coumaric acid, and ferulic acid	∼18.34	0.237	19.4	N/A	N/A	A549 cell lines	SRLe- α-Fe2O3 NPs inhibited the proliferation of A549 cell lines in a time-dependent and dose-dependent manner, with an IC50 of 51.2 μg mL−1, eliminating almost 94% of cancer cells	42
AgNPs	Lyciumaside	69.43	0.385	N/A	N/A	N/A	HCT-116, MCF-10A, and MDAMB-231 cell lines	Potent cytotoxicity against the HCT-116 (IC50 = 61.74 μg mL−1) cell line was witnessed	84
Chitosan NPs	Chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, coumaric acid, ferulic acid, and cinnamic acid	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	MCF-7 cell line	PELChNPs demonstrated significantly higher effectiveness against the MCF-7 cell line than PE, especially at lower concentrations. The proliferation of the MCF-7 cell line was suppressed at concentrations of 1 μg mL−1 for PELChNPs and 3.9 μg mL−1 for PE. The IC50 value further highlighted the potency of PELChNPs, which was notably more effective than Vinblastine sulfate, having an IC50 of around 6 μg mL−1	9
Hydrogel NPs	Chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, coumaric acid, and cinnamic acid	138.2	0.3	17.62	98 ± 0.23	N/A	A549 and MCF-7 cell lines	Hydrogel NPs had an IC50 of 214.3 μg mL−1 and 125.6 μg mL−1 on A549 and MCF-7 cells, respectively. They significantly upregulated Bax and caspase 3 genes, and downregulated Bcl-2, HRAS, and MAPK	85
Chitosan NPs	SAE extract includes chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, coumaric acid, ferulic acid, rosmarinic acid, and cinnamic acid	318.5 ± 73.94	0.547	N/A	N/A	N/A	NCl-H460 cell line	The viability of NCI-H460 cells decreased in a dose-dependent manner, dropping to 38.2% at a NP concentration of 100 μg mL−1	86
								Also, a significant reduction in tumor biomarkers and inflammation was observed during in vivo studies
Chitosan	Propolis	Less than 200 nm	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Only tested in vivo on Sprague-Dawley rat models	The NPs ameliorated cisplatin's side effects	87
Niosomes		151 ± 2.84	0.232	−30.9 ± 0.33	70	N/A	A549 and BEAS-2B cells	They decreased cell viability to below 50% after 24 h of treatment, and the scattering in the 3D spheroids of A549 cells	88
Propolis NPs		59.28	0.507	−4.21	N/A	N/A	MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and MCF-10A cell lines	The IC50 values recorded on MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and MCF-10A cells were 13.67 ± 0.89, 17.89 ± 0.6, and 29.9 ± 0.56 μg mL−1, respectively	89
NLC		255.8 ± 0.67	0.263 ± 0.009	−28.3 ± 4.71	87.70 ± 2.82%	N/A	Tested only in vivo in Ehrlich ascites carcinoma-bearing mice	They halted breast cancer progression through different mechanisms, all related to an elevated level of miRNA-223 expression	90
Zinc oxide NPs		9.70	N/A	−27	N/A	N/A	MCF-7 and HeLa cell lines	An IC50 of 18 and 23 μg mL−1 was witnessed for MCF-7 and HeLa cell lines, respectively	91
Propolis nanocapsule		1.49–36.14	N/A	N/A	95.89	N/A	PC-3, MCF-7, and HePG-2 cell lines	They had a high cytotoxic effect with IC50 values of 99.2, 124.6, and 90.8 μg mL−1 against PC-3, MCF-7, and HePG-2 cell lines, respectively	92