Recent Advances in Nanomaterials Development for Nanomedicine and Cancer

Abstract

Cancer is considered one of the leading causes of death, with a growing number of cases worldwide. However, the early diagnosis and efficient therapy of cancer have remained a critical challenge. The emergence of nanomedicine has opened up a promising window to address the drawbacks of cancer detection and treatment. A wide range of engineered nanomaterials and nanoplatforms with different shapes, sizes, and composition has been developed for various biomedical applications. Nanomaterials have been increasingly used in various applications in bioimaging, diagnosis, and therapy of cancers. Recently, numerous multifunctional and smart nanoparticles with the ability of simultaneous diagnosis and targeted cancer therapy have been reported. The multidisciplinary attempts led to the development of several exciting clinically approved nanotherapeutics. The nanobased materials and devices have also been used extensively to develop point-of-care and highly sensitive methods of cancer detection. In this review article, the most significant achievements and latest advances in the nanomaterials development for cancer nanomedicine are critically discussed. In addition, the future perspectives of this field are evaluated.

Riboflavin–citrate conjugate multicore SPIONs with enhanced magnetic responses and cellular uptake in breast cancer cells

“…In the last decade, nanotechnology has been instrumental in the advancement of contrast agents used in diagnosis, 4 specifically for MRI where superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) have been extensively studied and exploited as contrast agents. 5 SPIONs generate hypointense contrast in MRI imaging at the areas where they accumulate, and thus provide higher sensitivity in locating the cancerous regions, which helps in the detection of cancer at early stages.…”

Carbon Dots: Classification, Properties, Synthesis, Characterization, and Applications in Health Care—An Updated Review (2018–2021)

“…To date, a plethora of nanomaterials such as nano-magnetic beads [1], nanowires [2], nano-molecularly imprinted polymers (nano-MIPs) [3], polymer nanocomposites [4], dendrimers [5], metallic nanoparticles [6], carbon-based nanomaterials [7], and magnetic nanoparticles [8] are being exploited tremendously owing to their marvelous features, and they are efficiently applied in various fields, including photoelectric devices [9], microsuper capacitors [10], solar cells [11], optoelectronics [12], photodynamic therapy [13], photothermal therapy [14], electro-and photo-catalysis [15,16], environmental and food safety [17,18], novel drug delivery systems [19], new drug discovery [20], therapy development [21], theranostics and medical diagnostics [22,23], bioimaging [24], biosensing technology [25], etc. Amidst these nanomaterials, carbon-based nanomaterials are widely studied because of their indisputable prevalence in terms of biocompatibility, non-toxicity, inertness, eco-friendliness, long-term chemical stability, fluorescence properties, high electrical and thermal conductivity, large effective surface area, easy functionalization due to their abundant functional groups, excellent electro-catalytic activity, their ability to readily modify various electrodes during the construction of a wide range of biosensing platforms, etc.…”

A Nanoparticle’s Journey to the Tumor: Strategies to Overcome First-Pass Metabolism and Their Limitations

“…Research conducted in recent years has established nanomedicine as a promising tool to revitalize chemotherapeutics as first-line cancer treatments by improving their accumulation to solid tumors and enhancing their overall therapeutic window [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Since the approval of liposomal doxorubicin—marketed as Doxil—in 1995, nanomedicine for chemotherapy has seen unprecedented traction.…”