Recent advances in dendrimer-based nanovectors for tumor-targeted drug and gene delivery

•Dendrimers are nanovectors with well-defined architecture and tunable surface characteristics.•Dendrimers can take advantage of passive and active tumor targeting for safe and effective drug/gene delivery.•Dendriplexes show high gene transfection ability and can be explored for efficient delivery of genetic materials.•Dendrimers portend to be a promising multifunctional nanoplatform for diagnostic and therapeutic cancer intervention. Advances in the application of nanotechnology in medicine have given rise to multifunctional smart nanocarriers that can be engineered with tunable physicochemical characteristics to deliver one or more therapeutic agent(s) safely and selectively to cancer cells, including intracellular organelle-specific targeting. Dendrimers having properties resembling biomolecules, with well-defined 3D nanopolymeric architectures, are emerging as a highly attractive class of drug and gene delivery vector. The presence of numerous peripheral functional groups on hyperbranched dendrimers affords efficient conjugation of targeting ligands and biomarkers that can recognize and bind to receptors overexpressed on cancer cells for tumor-cell-specific delivery. The present review compiles the recent advances in dendrimer-mediated drug and gene delivery to tumors by passive and active targeting principles with illustrative examples. This review exemplifies the latest progress in dendrimer-mediated targeted drug and gene delivery to cancers.