Dendrimer-based polymeric nanocarriers for targeted and precision therapy in ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer remains one of the most aggressive gynecologic malignancies, largely attributed to its late diagnosis, tumor heterogeneity, and frequent development of chemoresistance. Conventional treatments, including cytoreductive surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy, are often limited by systemic toxicity and multidrug resistance mechanisms such as efflux pump overexpression, enhanced DNA repair, and apoptosis inhibition. Dendrimer-based polymeric nanocarriers have emerged as versatile and highly tunable platforms for targeted drug delivery in oncology. Their monodisperse, branched architecture enables-controlled drug encapsulation, surface modification, and site-specific functionalization with ligands for active targeting. This review highlights recent progress in the molecular design and functional engineering of dendrimers for ovarian cancer therapy, emphasizing strategies that improve tumor selectivity, intracellular uptake, and controlled release under tumor-specific stimuli (e.g., pH, enzymes). Moreover, dendrimers have demonstrated the potential to bypass resistance pathways and support co-delivery of chemotherapeutic agents and nucleic acids, thus offering synergistic therapeutic benefits. Integration of dendrimer-based systems with molecular oncology and precision medicine paves the way for next-generation translational therapeutics in ovarian cancer.