Multifunctional nanoparticles: recent progress in cancer therapeutics

Abstract

Although much progress has been made in treating cancers, cancer death rates in and around the United States are still high. Current treatments are either ineffective against some cancers or detrimental to patients, which decreases their quality of life. The use of nanotechnology in cancer therapy can potentially increase patient survival, reduce side effects, and reduce mortality rates because nanoparticles (NPs) have the potential to target only tumors and bypass healthy cells. NPs possess many features, including size, shape, charge, and composition, which allow them to carry chemotherapeutics to cancer cells. NPs can also be used in radiotherapy as radiosensitizers and in imaging as contrast agents. Many studies have performed in vitro and/or in vivo experiments on these particles in human and animal cell lines. This review discusses recent studies on different NPs and their potential use in cancer therapy.

Changes in oxidative stress intensity in blood of tumor-bearing rats following different modes of administration of rhenium-platinum system

“…These findings point out an importance of further research using solid nanoparticles loaded with anticancer agents. It is known that this drug formulation is suitab le for storage and administration of medicines [9]. It should also be noted that the liposome size does not affect the parameters of efficiency of tumor growth inhibition and oxidative stress in these experiments, when compared groups T8+[i]l and T8+[i]nl.…”

Bridging the Knowledge of Different Worlds to Understand the Big Picture of Cancer Nanomedicines

“…This includes, solid lipid nanoparticles, liposomes, polymeric micelles, hydrogels, dendrimers, polymersomes, inorganic nanoparticles (e.g., iron oxide, quantum dots, gold, silica and silicon particles), among many others (Figure 2). [16,34] However, in some cases, the combination of different types of nanoparticles have also been used for nanomedicine development. In most cases, these systems are constructed with desirable biological properties, such as biocompatibility and biodegradability, for the intended biological applications.…”

“…These multifunctional nanoparticles are capable of performing many functions either in parallel or sequentially, such as multi-targeted nanoparticles with stimuli-responsive drug delivery, combined diagnosis and therapeutic function (theranostic), among many others. [23,34,65,66] Combinatorial delivery of doxorubicin, paclitaxel together with nucleic acids (DNA and siRNA) using multifunctional polymeric nanoparticles evidenced the more therapeutic effect in terms of supressing tumor growth in in vivo animal models, compared to the single delivery of each therapeutics, seperatley. [67,68] Multifunctional receptor-targeted porous silicon (PSi) nanoparticles containing a RGD-targeting peptide, an anticancer agent, a fluorophore and 111 In have been used for tumor targeting and imaging combined with drug delivery in prostate cancer xenograft mouse model.…”

Development of mesoporous silica-based nanoparticles with controlled release capability for cancer therapy

“…At the center of this development is a variety of nanoparticles. These particles with a diameter in the range of 50–400 nm can accomplish targeted delivery of anticancer drugs [3]. A variety of nanoparticles have been developed and some of these are shown in Fig.…”