Strategies for organic nanoparticles delivering CRISPR/Cas9 for cancer therapy: Challenges and breakthroughs

The recent years have witnessed the rapid advancement of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9)-mediated gene editing in cancer therapy. The success of cancer gene therapy relies heavily on the development of safe and effective delivery vectors. We focus on organic nanocarriers because of their flexible customizability, which permits them to accomplish excellent delivery efficiency and performance. In this review, the pharmacokinetic behavior of CRISPR/Cas9 nanocarriers serves as a guide to outline the strategies for improving the bioavailability of nanocarriers through physical, chemical, and biological means. Furthermore, the potential of organic nanocarriers for simultaneous delivery of therapeutic agents and gene editing tools is highlighted. Finally, we discuss future directions for the development of cancer therapeutic nanosystems, paving the way for the construction of effective CRISPR/Cas9 delivery systems.