Table 1.

Albumin-based nanoparticles employed to overcome cancer drug resistance

Drug	Particle size (nm)	PDI	Method	Type of cancer	Type of cancer drug resistance treated	Outcome	Ref.
Bovine serum albumin (BSA) based nanoparticles
TCS and ABZ	98	0.18	Self-assembly	Lung cancer	Phosphorylation of caspase 9, upregulation of P-gp, and upregulation of α-tubulin	Inhibition of metastasis with an efficiency > 80% against A549/T tumor-bearing nude mice	[51]
CCM and DOX	131 (spherical)	N/A	High-pressure homogenization	Lung cancer	Poor drug uptake, accumulation, and decreased response to monotherapy	Enhanced cytotoxicity with around 80% cell death	[52]
QT and DTX	209	0.184	Antisolvent precipitation method	Breast cancer	Increased drug efflux by P-gp	4.27- and 1.87-fold reduction in the IC50 compared to free DTX and DTX-BSA-NPs, against MDA-MB-231 cells	[53]
CYC and DOX	151	0.206	Thermal induced aggregation	Breast cancer	Upregulation of P-gp	Enhanced accumulation of DOX, with only 2% survival of DOX-resistant MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells	[41]
VE and PTX	106.9	0.172	Desolvation-ultrasonication method	Breast cancer	Increased drug efflux by P-gp	Enhanced cytotoxicity, as well as improve PTX tumor accumulation against MCF-7/ADR cells	[54]
Cur and DOX	99.94	0.193	Desolvation method	Breast cancer	Upregulation of P-gp	A lower cell viability was exhibited after the treatment with the Cur-DOX co-loaded albumin NPs, compared to the Cur loaded albumin NPs or the DOX loaded albumin NPs	[55]
Ce6 and DOX	HMSN: 231 BMHDC: 274	N/A	Biomineralization and Conjugation	Cervical cancer	Hypoxia-associated photodynamic therapy resistance	Reduction of Hela cell viability by more than 90%	[56]
disulfuram/copper complex and Rego	140.4	0.185	Hydrophobic drug induced co-assembly	Colorectal cancer	Poor drug accumulation and polarization of TAM to M2 phenotype	Downregulation of mannose receptors, and reduction in the population of M2 macrophages by up to 22%	[57]
DOX	60	0.23	Desolvation method	Uterine sarcoma	P-gp overexpression resulting in DOX resistance	DOX-DBSA-NPs, prepared by DMSO as desolvating agent, and DOX-SBSA-NPs, prepared by acetone, as the desolvating agent, exerted an enhanced cytotoxicity (IC50 = 0.39 and 0.25 μmol/L, respectively), with a lower IC50 than free DOX (IC50 = 2.09 μmol/L)	[58]
Human serum albumin (HSA) based nanoparticles
DOX	496.4	0.213	Desolvation method	Neuroblastoma	ABCB1-mediated drug efflux	Enhanced DOX sensitivity and anticancer activity against vincristine adapted UKF-NB-3rVCR1 cells, but not DOX-resistant UKF-NB-3rDOX20 cells, when treated with DOX-loaded albumin NPs	[59]
TRAIL and DOX	341.6	N/A	Self-assembly	Lung cancer	TRAIL or DOX monotherapy resistance	Enhanced apoptosis against H226 cells, compared to single drug-loaded nanoparticles	[43]
TRAIL and DOX	220	N/A	Desolvation method	Colon, breast, pancreatic cancer	TRAIL monotherapy resistance and drug efflux	99% cell-killing against CAPAN-1 cells	[37]
DTX	248.7	0.13	Albumin-coated nanocrystals	Ovarian cells	Poor drug uptake	Enhanced cell uptake by 2.5 folds after 1 h and around 8 folds in 3 h, via SPARC-mediated mechanism	[60]
DTX and IR-780	146.5	N/A	Self-assembly	Prostate cancer	Poor efficacy of PTT and PDT monotherapy	Increased temperature up to 47.5 °C, with an irreversible tumor damage	[61]
Human survivin-specific miRNA plasmid	220	0.04	Desolvation method	Colorectal cancer	Overexpression of Survivin	50% reduction in survivin expression, initiation of apoptosis, and reduction of cell viability by up to 60% at 2 Gy, with combined radiotherapy	[33]
PTX	118.8	0.221	Hydrophobic drug induced co-assembly	TNBC	Lack of the expression of HER2, estrogen and progesterone receptors	Enhanced cellular uptake, and a lower IC50 (553.5 ng/mL) compared to free PTX (3612.1 ng/mL)	[45]
Cat, Ce6 and PTX	100	N/A	Hydrophobic drug induced co-assembly	Breast cancer	Poor intra-tumoral penetration, tumor hypoxia	Enhanced PDT, due to generation of oxygen in situ by the action of catalase	[62]
GEM	150	N/A	Albumin-bound technology	Pancreatic cancer	low hENT1 expression; Poor GEM uptake	Reduced tumor volume and weight compared to free GEM	[50,63]

TCS: trichosanthin; ABZ: albendazole; CCM: curcumin; DOX: doxorubicin; QT: quercetin; DTX: docetaxel; CYC: cyclopamine; PTX: paclitaxel; VE: vitamin E; Rego: regorafenib; Cur: curcumin; DOX-DBSA-NPs: doxorubicin loaded doughnut shaped bovine serum albumin nanoparticles; DOX-SBSA-NPs: doxorubicin loaded spherical shaped bovine serum albumin nanoparticles; TRAIL: tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand; CAPAN-1: human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cell line; SPARC: secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine; TNBC: triple negative breast cancer; PDT: photodynamic therapy; PTT: photothermal therapy; HER2: human epidermal growth factor receptor 2; Cat: catalase; hENT1: human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1; GEM: Gemcitabine