Advances in lymphatic targeted drug delivery system for treatment of tumor metastasis

Lymphatic metastasis is one of the main routes of tumor metastasis. The limitation of traditional medicine in the treatment of lymphatic tumor metastasis lies in the low concentration of the drug in lymphatic metastases resulting in poor efficacy. Nanocarrier-based drug delivery system plays an important role in enhancing drug targeting, improving drug bioavailability, and reducing side effects. This review introduces the composition and function of the lymphatic system as well as its role in tumor metastasis, enumerates the present therapeutic means and limitations of anti-tumor lymphatic metastasis, and focuses on the recent advances in the passive, active and antigen-presenting cell-mediated lymphatic targeted drug delivery systems in tumor metastasis are highlighted.