Breast cancer is the commonest type of malignant
tumor in women, comprising of about 30% of all
cancers in women worldwide. In the past decades, the mortality of
breast cancer patients has significantly been reduced due to the adoption of periodic
breast cancer screening and the emergence of various treatments, such as
radiotherapy,
chemotherapy, and surgery. Currently,
chemotherapy is one of the most effective treatments for
breast cancer. Its side effects, however, pose a long-term challenge on a patient's health. Thus, it is highly desirable to develop new therapies that can specifically target
carcinoma cells without damaging normal and healthy cells. Tremendous efforts have been made to develop targeted drug delivery systems for
breast cancer treatment. In this review, we intend to systematically examine recent progresses made along these directions. We highlighted various delivery carriers designed for directing the diffusion of therapeutic agents inside
tumors to kill or suppress
breast cancer cells. These carriers include molecular-recognition-element modified anticancer agents, stem cells that have tropism to breast
cancers, nanoparticle-based anticancer drugs, and anticancer
peptides. In particular, we discussed recent patents on the new targeted therapeutic delivery systems, with an emphasis on triple-negative
breast cancer therapies.