Harnessing the Power of Nanotechnology for Enhanced Radiation Therapy

Abstract

Radiotherapy has emerged as one of the first lines of treatment in oncology. The past few decades have seen dramatic changes in the delivery of radiation therapy, with dose fractionation and treatment planning being the major focuses of research. Although effective, such empirical approaches are hardly optimal, and instances of patient mortality and tumor relapse are not rare. In this Perspective, we review the emerging technologies for optimization of radiosensitization, hypoxia modulation, and combinatorial therapeutic regimes for improved treatment outcomes in preclinical tumor models, with a focus on nanotechnology-mediated approaches. Such an approach is expected to open more productive avenues in the advancement of radiation therapy compared to simply modulating the radiation dose delivered to the tumor.

Metallo-Curcumin-Conjugated DNA Complexes Induces Preferential Prostate Cancer Cells Cytotoxicity and Pause Growth of Bacterial Cells

“…In the last 20 years, research has been conducted to address the issues related to chemotherapy so that cancer can be treated promptly. To this end, the nanotechnology has been utilized in multiple medical disciplines such as therapies and diagnostics 1 – 3 , biosensors 4 , and optoelectronics 5 – 7 , to advance the prevention and treatment of cancer.…”

Efficient Uptake of 177Lu‐Porphyrin‐PEG Nanocomplexes by Tumor Mitochondria for Multimodal‐Imaging‐Guided Combination Therapy

“…[1] Nanoparticle-mediated combinatorial therapeutic regimens are increasingly being used by researchers to improve therapies because of their greater tumor cell killing effects at the targeted site. [2] Specifically,r adiationbased combination therapy has become aclinical standard in curative and palliative treatment regimens. [3] Recently,radionuclide therapy using particle-emitting radioisotopes (for example, 177 Lu, 90 Y, and 131 I) has presented promising results for the palliative treatment of several cancers.…”

Bridging Bio–Nano Science and Cancer Nanomedicine

“…The best treatment option for most cancers is based around a combination of several interventions, including well-established options such as surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, 21,22 often combined with biological therapy: which can include antibody therapy, [81][82][83] immunomodulation and T cell engineering. 192,193 Nanomedicine can facilitate these approaches, for example by: (i) guiding surgical removal of tumors, 194 (ii) enhancing radiotherapy, 195,196 (iii) co-delivering therapeutics to reduce the likelihood of multi-drug resistant cancers developing, [197][198][199] and (iv) by stimulating the immune system to induce or sustain anti-tumor responses. 200 Complementing the approaches outlined above is the possibility of using cancer nanomedicine to stratify patients based on imaging and response.…”