Application of nanotechnology in the early diagnosis and comprehensive treatment of gastrointestinal cancer

Abstract

Gastrointestinal cancer (GIC) is a common malignant tumour of the digestive system that seriously threatens human health. Due to the unique organ structure of the gastrointestinal tract, endoscopic and MRI diagnoses of GIC in the clinic share the problem of low sensitivity. The ineffectiveness of drugs and high recurrence rates in surgical and drug therapies are the main factors that impact the curative effect in GIC patients. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve diagnostic accuracies and treatment efficiencies. Nanotechnology is widely used in the diagnosis and treatment of GIC by virtue of its unique size advantages and extensive modifiability. In the diagnosis and treatment of clinical GIC, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanoparticles, electrochemical nanobiosensors and magnetic nanoparticles, intraoperative imaging nanoparticles, drug delivery systems and other multifunctional nanoparticles have successfully improved the diagnosis and treatment of GIC. It is important to further improve the coordinated development of nanotechnology and GIC diagnosis and treatment. Herein, starting from the clinical diagnosis and treatment of GIC, this review summarizes which nanotechnologies have been applied in clinical diagnosis and treatment of GIC in recent years, and which cannot be applied in clinical practice. We also point out which challenges must be overcome by nanotechnology in the development of the clinical diagnosis and treatment of GIC and discuss how to quickly and safely combine the latest nanotechnology developed in the laboratory with clinical applications. Finally, we hope that this review can provide valuable reference information for researchers who are conducting cross-research on GIC and nanotechnology.

Advancements in SERS‐based biological detection and its application and perspectives in pancreatic cancer

“…SERS is a non-invasive, rapid, and highly sensitive detection method. 47,48 The technique can detect characteristic fingerprint peaks for different types of cells, proteins, 49 miRNA, 50 and DNA. 51 Therefore, SERS has unique advantages in the detection of biological samples.…”

Nano‐omics: Frontier fields of fusion of nanotechnology

“…Nanoparticles have been ingeniously designed to target cancer cells specifically, enhancing drug delivery while minimizing damage to healthy cells, groundbreaking advancement in oncology (Figure 4). [18][19][20] The integration of nanotechnology and medicine paves the way for the future of healthcare and personalized and precise treatments. In essence, the journey of nanotechnology since the 1980s has propelled it into a remarkable realm, holding immense transformative potential across diverse scientific and medical domains.…”

“…Source: Reproduced under terms of the CC-BY license. 18 Copyright 2022, The Authors, published by BioMed Central. (B) Schematic illustration of different barriers in the process of CRISPR/Cas9 delivery for cancer therapy.…”

“… (A) Application of nanotechnology in the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal cancer. Source: Reproduced under terms of the CC‐BY license 18 . Copyright 2022, The Authors, published by BioMed Central.…”

Size-exclusion chromatography-based extracellular vesicle size subtyping and multiplex membrane protein profiling for differentiating gastrointestinal cancer prognosis

“…[1][2][3] The early diagnosis of GI cancer and the point-of-care (PoC) monitoring of its prognosis states play a crucial role in improving treatment outcomes. [4][5][6] However, biopsy specimen analysis and imageological examinations, the current techniques for GI cancer diagnosis and prognosis, are either invasive or require specialized instruments or trained personnel, making them impractical for PoC use. Consequently, there is a pressing need to develop non-invasive PoC technologies that can directly identify and analyze circulating biomarkers in patient biofluids for GI cancer diagnosis.…”