Targeting CD44 by Hyaluronic Acid-Based Nano Drug Delivery Systems May Eradicate Cancer Stem Cells in Human Breast Cancer

Despite the significant progress in cancer diagnosis and therapy, still invasion and metastasis of cancer cells, development of drug resistance and cancer recurrence are the main causes of mortality in cancer patients. Recent researches on cancer stem cells (CSCs) along with the role of CD44 marker in drug resistance and as the main marker of breast CSCs, highlight the importance of CD44 in cancer targeted therapy. Additionally, co-localization of MDR1 and CD44 in cancer cell population showed that one protein directly influences the expression of the other and disruption of interaction has significant effects on drug resistance, cell migration and in vitro invasion. Based on the above information, using nanotechnology-derived CD44 targeted drug delivery systems will be able to address recurrence of the disease and other major obstacles in cancer chemotherapy. Therefore, we hypotheses that using combination of cytotoxic agents and CSC specific agents anchored in hyaluronic acid (as the endogenous substrate of CD44), have the potential to develop novel drug delivery systems to eradicate breast cancer.