Smart Nanocarriers for Co-Delivery of Anti-Obesity and Anticancer Agents
Kamanzi Ntakirutimana G.
School of Natural and Applied Sciences Kampala International University Uganda
ABSTRACT
Obesity and cancer intersect through shared inflammatory, endocrine, and metabolic circuits that amplify risk, accelerate progression, and blunt therapeutic response. Treating them as separate diseases leaves substantial biology unaddressed at the adipose–tumor interface. Smart nanocarriers engineered for co-delivery of antiobesity and anticancer payloads offer a strategy to modulate host metabolism while simultaneously attacking malignant cells and their microenvironments. By tuning size, shape, and surface chemistry, and by embedding logic for stimuli responsiveness, active targeting, and imaging, multifunctional platforms can synchronize exposure of GLP-1 or AMPK-directed agents with chemotherapeutics, kinase inhibitors, immunomodulators, or nucleic acids, all within the pharmacokinetic and tissue constraints of high-BMI hosts. This review maps the rationale and design landscape for dual-action nanotherapy, from lipid and polymeric constructs to biomimetic and hybrid systems; details trigger chemistries and ligand choices that align with obesity-altered vasculature, extracellular matrix, and immune tone; and outlines dosing, safety, and translational principles that convert mechanistic synergy into clinical benefit. The central proposition is that metabolic correction and tumor control are not competing objectives but co-requisites that nanotechnology can deliver in a coordinated, patient-tailored manner.
Keywords: co-delivery; anti-obesity agents; obesity-associated cancer; smart nanocarriers; stimuli-responsive release.
CITE AS: Kamanzi Ntakirutimana G. (2026). Smart Nanocarriers for Co-Delivery of Anti-Obesity and Anticancer Agents. Research Output Journal of Engineering and Scientific Research 5(1): 53-58.
https://doi.org/10.59298/ROJESR/2026/5.15358