Application of Heparin in Anti-Tumor Drug Delivery Systems

Heparin is a kind of glycosaminoglycan with complex structure, which is composed of glucuronic acid and glucosamine. Even though heparin has been used as anticoagulant in clinic for long time, growing evidence have indicated its potent capability in anti-metastasis. In recent years, heparin-based anti-tumor drug delivery system has been widely reported. In these systems, heparin not only enhances the anti-tumor effect of anticancer drugs, but also exhibits its own anti-metastasis function, realizing synergistic anti-tumor and anti-metastasis effects between drugs and drug vesicles. Generally, the heparin-based drug delivery system can be divided into nano-based drug delivery system, micro-based drug delivery system and hydrogel. Here we review the rational design of these systems and discuss the potential challenges in this field.