"Nano": The new nemesis of cancer

Abstract

Materials at nano dimensions exhibit totally different properties compared to their bulk and atomic states. This feature has been harnessed by scientists from various disciplines, to develop functional nanomaterials for cancer diagnosis and therapeutics. The success stories range from delivering chemotherapeutic molecules in nano-sized formulations to functional nanomaterials, which deliver thermal and radiotherapy at specific targeted sites. This brief review summarizes the recent developments of various nanotechnologies in cancer therapy and diagnostics, both from the research sector and the upcoming products in pipeline on its route to commercialization. Supportive engineering innovations and frontiers in nanomolecular research, with a potential to revolutionize cancer therapy, have been discussed in brief.

Overcoming drug efflux-based multidrug resistance in cancer with nanotechnology

“…Currently, there are no traditional strategies without serious side effects to completely reverse chemotherapeutic resistance in tumors. Based on their unique physical and biological properties, cancer nanotechnologies developed in recent years offer an unprecedented opportunity for rational delivery of anticancer drugs to solid tumors[20],[21]. The promise of nanotechnology lies in the ability to engineer customizable nanoscale constructs, which have more controllable surface for different modification, and to accommodate multiple types of payloads, such as cancer chemotherapeutics, chemosensitizers, or molecular imaging agents[22],[23].…”

Multi-modal strategies for overcoming tumor drug resistance: Hypoxia, the Warburg effect, stem cells, and multifunctional nanotechnology

“…Common nanoparticle platforms include liposomes, micelles, nanoemulsions, polymers, quantum dots, gold, iron-oxide, and dendrimers. The nanoscale behaviour of the platform material is very different from the properties of the bulk platform material due to the large surface area to volume ratio that characterizes nanoparticles [32-35]. This large surface area to volume ratio allows the particles to be held in suspension, enables high drug encapsulation, and extensive surface absorption [32-35].…”

Nanorobot architecture for medical target identification

“…For communication in liquid workspaces, depending on the application, acoustic, light, RF, and chemical signals can be considered as possible choices for communication and data transmission [2]. Chemical signaling and sensor-based behaviour are quite useful for nearby communication among nanorobots for some teamwork coordination and biomedical instrumentation [5,6,108]. Acoustic communication is more appropriate for long distance communication and detection with low energy consumption as compared to light communication approaches [109].…”