Nanomedicine for drug delivery and imaging: A promising avenue for cancer therapy and diagnosis using targeted functional nanoparticles

Abstract

The diagnosis and treatment of cancer or tumor at the cellular level will be greatly improved with the development of techniques that enable the delivery of analyte probes and therapeutic agents into cells and cellular compartments. Organic and inorganic nanoparticles that interface with biological systems have recently attracted widespread interest in the fields of biology and medicine. The new term nanomedicine has been used recently. Nanoparticles are considered to have the potential as novel intravascular or cellular probes for both diagnostic (imaging) and therapeutic purposes (drug/gene delivery), which is expected to generate innovations and play a critical role in medicine. Target-specific drug/ gene delivery and early diagnosis in cancer treatment is one of the priority research areas in which nanomedicine will play a vital role. Some recent breakthroughs in this field recently also proved this trend. Nanoparticles for drug delivery and imaging have gradually been developed as new modalities for cancer therapy and diagnosis. In this article, we review the significance and recent advances of gene/drug delivery to cancer cells, and the molecular imaging and diagnosis of cancer by targeted functional nanoparticles. ' 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

PLGA-Based Nanoparticles as Cancer Drug Delivery Systems

“…From a broader perspective in medicine, nanoparticle have been used in specific applications such as tissue engineered scaffolds and devices, site specific drug delivery systems, cancer therapy and clinical bioanalytical diagnostics and therapeutics (van Vlerken and Amiji, 2006;Vasir and Labhasetwar, 2007;Liu et al, 2007;Mahapatro and Singh, 2011).…”

Minimalism in Radiation Synthesis of Biomedical Functional Nanogels

“…5,6 Pharmaceutical NGs bearing reactive groups can represent a convenient alternative to the classical pharmacological treatment for several diseases, particularly in cancer chemotherapy, owing to a more specific and efficient particle surface functionalization, drug uptake, and release features. 7 One of the main problems associated with the administration of pharmaceutical drugs, in fact, depends on the nonspecificity in recognition of the target sites and consequent homogeneous distribution of the drug in the body. 8,9 Functionalized NGs, unlike other biomaterials, offer the unique advantages stemming from spacious aqueous interiors, high surface areas, and tunable, and thereby highly specific, chemical and physical characteristics.…”

Cell studies of a three-component antisense MORF/tat/Herceptin nanoparticle designed for improved tumor delivery

“…Free antitumor antibodies have been successfully used to target tumor antigens for decades 14 and are now in increasing use to bring quantum dots and other large particles to tumors. [15][16][17] We report herein on our first results using a three-component nanoparticle to which an antitumor antibody has been added to the two-component nanoparticle with the AS MORF and the tat peptide. As before, each component was biotinylated so that streptavidin could serve as a convenient linker.…”