A. I. Suryani et al. Int J App Pharm, Vol 13, Special Issue 4, 2021, 69-76 1 st Bandung International Teleconference on Pharmacy (BITP), 2021 | 69 TARGETED DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM; NANOPARTICLE BASED COMBINATION OF CHITOSAN AND ALGINATE FOR CANCER THERAPY: A REVIEW Review Article ADE IRMA SURYANI 1* , NASRUL WATHONI 2 , MUCHTARIDI MUCHTARIDI 3 , I. MADE JONI 4,5 1 Master Program in the Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Padjadjaran, Sumedang 45363, Indonesia, 2 Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Padjadjaran, Sumedang 45363, Indonesia, 3 Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Padjadjaran, Sumedang 45363, Indonesia, 4 Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Padjadjaran, Sumedang 45363, Indonesia, 5 Functional Nano Powder University Center of Excellence (FiNder U CoE), Universitas Padjadjaran, Jalan Raya Bandung-Sumedang Km 21, Jatinangor 45363, Indonesia * Email: ade20011@mail.unpad.ac.id Received: 05 Aug 2021, Revised and Accepted: 15 Oct 2021 ABSTRACT This review aimed to determine the potential of the combination of chitosan and alginate as a targeted drug carrier in cancer therapy. This article is based on the results of previous research journals collected from Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed and Science Direct sites using the keywords chitosan, alginate, targeted drug delivery for cancer, nanoparticle chitosan alginate. With the inclusion criteria, only English-language journals, journals published in the last 10 y, related to chitosan and alginate-based formulations. Meanwhile, the exclusion criteria were journals on pharmacological properties and bioactivity, food and cosmetics. The combination of cationic chitosan and anionic alginate forming strong cross-links showed good mucoadhesive properties, higher resistance to low pH and high-efficiency encapsulation without showing any obvious cytotoxicity. Ch/Alg can overcome the shortcomings of the active substance, such as its rapid release process and the required active ingredient is lower than that required to enter the cancer target cells so as to minimize side effects of the drug by providing drug-induced release. in response to various stimuli that are well suited to the intended purpose, such as pH stimuli, redox gradients, light, temperature, and magnetism. It is shown that the combination of chitosan and alginate base has great potential in targeting cancer therapy by increasing its therapeutic effectiveness and selectivity. Keywords: Nanoparticles, Chitosan, Alginate, Cancer therapy, Targeted delivery, Polymer © 2021 The Authors. Published by Innovare Academic Sciences Pvt Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.22159/ijap.2021.v13s4.43818 Journal homepage: https://innovareacademics.in/journals/index.php/ijap INTRODUCTION Cancer cells arise from the transformation of normal cells so that anticancer drugs can usually damage normal cells so that a drug delivery system that is specifically targeted towards cancer cells is needed such as nanoparticles [1, 2]. Nanoparticles can be defined as nano-sized systems with diameters generally ranging from 10 to 1000 nm [3], which has been recognized to have great potential in changing the pharmacokinetic profile, reducing side effects, and being able to increase therapeutic efficiency [4, 5]. In the development of this delivery system, there are three main aspects, namely the targeting group, the therapeutic agent, and the carrier system. Drugs can be conjugated into carrier molecules through passive and active absorption, in this case, the selection of a suitable carrier molecule that must be biodegradable is very important. Biodegradable polymers have proven to be the most promising potential for building anticancer drug delivery systems and can be classified based on the source consisting of synthetic polymers and natural polymers [1, 2, 6]. One type of polymer being developed at this time is chitosan; chitosan is a polymer derived from the distillation process of chitin which is widely found in invertebrates, especially crustaceans, such as crabs, crabs, and shrimp, has mucoadhesive properties, biodegradable, biocompatible, low immunogenicity and Non-toxic makes this polymer widely used in biomedicine and pharmaceuticals, besides that it is also a strong nucleophile and has a lone pair of electrons from the amine group making chitosan cationic. Alginate is a polymer whose main components come from brown algae, such as sargassum, durvillaea, macrocystis, and ascophyllum. There are two types of monomers in alginic acid, namely β-D-mannopyranosyl uronic and α-D- mannopyranosyl uronic acid-L-glucopyranosil uronate, which causes colloidal, hydrophilic and gel-forming properties, so it is widely used as a thickening agent, emulsifier, and stabilizer in pharmaceutical preparations [7-10]. Combination anionic chitosan and alginate will form cross-links that maximize targeting by regulating encapsulation and release rate as well as excellent and proven mucoadhesive properties. can be well received by the body, improve encapsulation efficiency [11-13] and is known to increase absorption and cellular uptake by widening the narrow film on the preparation [10, 14, 15]. The nanoparticle formulation based on the combination of chitosan alginate can produce a significant difference in the healing process of cancer therapy compared to the single base. But in this combination the selection of the appropriate method is very important to achieve the formula results with the desired targeting location. The purpose of this review article is to provide a comprehensive view of the potential of nanoparticle targeted delivery systems from a combination of chitosan and alginate-based for cancer therapy. Fig. 1: Distribution of nanoparticle chitosan alginate articles based on the year of publication (self-made) International Journal of Applied Pharmaceutics ISSN- 0975-7058 Vol 13, Special Issue 4, 2021