Glycosylation in Cancer Medicines Delivery and Their Patents

Glycosylation plays a significant part in cancer pathophysiology, shaping tumour progression, metastasis, immune evasion, and drug resistance. Aberrant glycosylation patterns in tumours serve as impending biomarkers and therapeutic targets for enriched cancer diagnostics and treatment strategies. Developments in glycosylation-mediated drug delivery systems (DDSs) have enabled more targeted targeting of tumour cells through receptor-specific interactions, boosting drug efficacy while mitigating systemic toxicity. Glycosylated nanocarriers, antibodies, and fusion proteins have proven favourable applications in anticancer therapies, improving drug stability, cellular uptake, and immune modulation. Recent patents focus on innovative advances leveraging glycosylation to improve drug targeting, stability, and therapeutic efficacy, predominantly in addressing multidrug resistance in cancers such as non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer. Narrative review, synthesizing published research and patents related to glycosylation-mediated drug delivery for cancer. Peer-reviewed journal articles and patents retrieved from European, Google Patents, and Lens.org databases (2020-2025) using keywords such as cancer, glycosylation, drug, medicine, oncology. Covers glycosylation biology in cancer, receptor-mediated targeting, applications in nanocarriers and antibodies, roles in metastasis, immune evasion, metabolism, ferroptosis, senescence, biomarkers, and delivery systems. Qualitative synthesis of literature findings and patent specifications, categorizing them by therapeutic approach, target, stage of development, and potential for clinical translation. Identification of trends, challenges, and future perspectives in glycosylation-based drug delivery. This review surveys the structural and functional aspects of glycosylation in cancer biology, its effects on tumour behaviour, and its emerging role in personalised medicine through glycosylation-based diagnostics and targeted therapeutics.