Nanotechnology Advances in the Detection and Treatment of Cancer: An Overview

Abstract

Over the last few years, progress has been made across the nanomedicine landscape, in particular, the invention of contemporary nanostructures for cancer diagnosis and overcoming complexities in the clinical treatment of cancerous tissues. Thanks to their small diameter and large surface-to-volume proportions, nanomaterials have special physicochemical properties that empower them to bind, absorb and transport high-efficiency substances, such as small molecular drugs, DNA, proteins, RNAs, and probes. They also have excellent durability, high carrier potential, the ability to integrate both hydrophobic and hydrophilic compounds, and compatibility with various transport routes, making them especially appealing over a wide range of oncology fields. This is also due to their configurable scale, structure, and surface properties. This review paper discusses how nanostructures can function as therapeutic vectors to enhance the therapeutic value of molecules; how nanomaterials can be used as medicinal products in gene therapy, photodynamics, and thermal treatment; and finally, the application of nanomaterials in the form of molecular imaging agents to diagnose and map tumor growth.

Chitosan-Based Nano-Smart Drug Delivery System in Breast Cancer Therapy

“…Polymer nanomaterials have potential in medical treatments and therapies such as imaging, faster diagnosis, and drug distribution, and offer many attractive advantages over conventional drugs, including stability, better bioavailability, minimized toxic side effects, and enhanced drug delivery [ 22 , 45 , 46 ]. Polymeric NPs are capable of combining other functions such as controlled release, imaging agency, targeted delivery, and the loading of more than one drug for combination therapy [ 47 , 48 ].…”

New trends in diagnosing and treating ovarian cancer using nanotechnology

“…When compared to the direct administration of chemotherapeutic agents, drug delivery via nanocarriers offers numerous benefits. These benefits include the following: 1) the delivery of drugs that have a low solubility by either enclosing the drugs within the nanocarriers' hydrophobic interfaces or acting as the carriers for the drugs in the blood; 2) lowering chemotherapeutic agents' systemic toxicity; 3) stabilizing their cargo by increasing the biodistribution and pharmacokinetics of the therapeutic agents while reducing renal clearance and extending circulation time owing to drug encapsulation and protection against inactivation by metabolic enzymes; and 4) overcoming drug resistance by selectively targeting cancer cells during nanocarrier uptake via cellular endocytic pathways and simultaneously multiple chemotherapeutic agents are delivered to the tumor while evading the cellular drug efflux pump (Mosleh-Shirazi et al, 2021;Tunç and Aydin, 2022). The most recent findings in nanomedicine that improve OC treatment are presented in the following sections.…”

Screening of Cu4O3 NPs efficacy and its anticancer potential against cervical cancer

“…Multiple studies have suggested the use of nanoparticles (NPs) for the prevention, management, and possible treatment of cancer, highlighting their favorable pharmacokinetics, reasonable targeting efficiency, minimal side effects, and limited drug resistance 13,14 . In addition, NPs have shown enhanced performance with unique properties owing to their typical physicochemical advantages, including smaller size, high surface area/volume, ability to allow tumor cells to bind with various functional groups and accumulate at tumor locations 15 . Among the various NPs, metal oxide NPs have shown enormous benefits, such as, non/limited toxicity, cost effective, and antimicrobial/cancer activity, which makes them a promising tool for therapeutic applications.…”

“…13,14 In addition, NPs have shown enhanced performance with unique properties owing to their typical physicochemical advantages, including smaller size, high surface area/volume, ability to allow tumor cells to bind with various functional groups and accumulate at tumor locations. 15 Among the various NPs, metal oxide NPs have shown enormous benefits, such as, non/limited toxicity, cost effective, and antimicrobial/cancer activity, which makes them a promising tool for therapeutic applications. In addition, the therapeutic advantages of metal-oxide NPs are their unique structure, excellent stability, redox and catalytic characteristics, high surface area, and biocompatibility.…”