Table 1.

Examples of studies using nanocarriers to passively target TAM.

Carrier Type	Cargo	Model	Purpose	Ref.
Liposomes	Simvastatin	B16.F10 murine melanoma	Improve efficacy of statins using a tumor targeted delivery system	[119]
	Alendronate and doxorubicin	Multiple murine cancer models	Increase anti-tumor efficacy by co-delivery of alendronate and doxorubicin	[117]
Acetylated CMC	Docetaxel	PAN02 pancreatic cancer xenograft	Targeted depletion of stroma	[123]
Linear cyclodextrin-based nanoparticle	Fluorescent label	Murine GL261 glioma	Macrophage and microglia targeting	[125]
Iron oxide nanoparticle	-	Murine breast cancer using MMTV–PyMT cells	Evaluate intrinsic therapeutic effects of USPIO	[128]
Red blood cells	Bisphosphonates	Normal Swiss, C57BL/6 and Balb/C mice	Macrophage depletion	[130,131]
High-density lipoprotein-based nanoparticle	Radiolabel	Murine 4T1 breast cancer	Imaging of TAM	[134]
Cowpea mosaic virus	Fluorescent label, Photosensitizer	RAW264.7 macrophages and B16F10 tumor cells	TAM and tumor cell targeting	[135,136]
PAMAM dendrimers	Fluorescent dye	Rat 9L gliosarcoma	Cross BBB and achieve homogenous tumor distribution	[126]
Carbon nanotubes	Fluorescent dye	Murine GL261 glioma	Study uptake and toxicity	[138]
	CpGs	Murine GL261 glioma	Evaluate CNT as a delivery vehicle	[139,140]
Albumin-paclitaxel conjugate	Paclitaxel	Murine KPC pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma	Investigate new mechanism for Abraxane effectiveness	[146]
Mesoporous silicon particles loaded with albumin–paclitaxel conjugate	Paclitaxel	Murine 4T1 breast cancer and murine 3LL lung cancer	Redirect nab-paclitaxel to liver metastasis	[147]

Abbreviations: BBB: blood brain barrier, CMC: carboxymethylcellulose, USPIO: ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide, PAMAM: poly(amidoamine), CNT: carbon nanotubes, CpGs: oligodeoxynucleotides containing CpG motifs.