Nanomaterials for cancer therapy and imaging

Ki Hyun Bae, Hyun Jung Chung, Tae Gwan Park

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

290 Scopus citations

Abstract

A variety of organic and inorganic nanomaterials with dimensions below several hundred nanometers are recently emerging as promising tools for cancer therapeutic and diagnostic applications due to their unique characteristics of passive tumor targeting. A wide range of nanomedicine platforms such as polymeric micelles, liposomes, dendrimers, and polymeric nanoparticles have been extensively explored for targeted delivery of anti-cancer agents, because they can accumulate in the solid tumor site via leaky tumor vascular structures, thereby selectively delivering therapeutic payloads into the desired tumor tissue. In recent years, nanoscale delivery vehicles for small interfering RNA (siRNA) have been also developed as effective therapeutic approaches to treat cancer. Furthermore, rationally designed multi-functional surface modification of these nanomaterials with cancer targeting moieties, protective polymers, and imaging agents can lead to fabrication versatile theragnostic nanosystems that allow simultaneous cancer therapy and diagnosis. This review highlights the current state and future prospects of diverse biomedical nanomaterials for cancer therapy and imaging.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)295-302
Number of pages8
JournalMolecules and Cells
Volume31
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2011
Externally publishedYes

Funding

This research was supported by the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, and the World Class University project, Basic Science Research Program (2010-0027955), and the National Research Laboratory program from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Repub lic of Korea.

Keywords

  • Cancer therapy
  • Drug delivery system
  • Imaging
  • Nanoparticles
  • Small interfering RNA

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