Nanoparticles and cancer therapy: a concise review with emphasis on dendrimers

Abstract

The emergence of nanotechnology has had a profound effect on many areas of healthcare and scientific research. Having grown exponentially, the focus of nanotechnology has been on engineering diversified novel applications that even go beyond therapeutic activity; nanotechnology also offers the ability to detect diseases, such as cancer, much earlier than ever imaginable. Often, patients diagnosed with breast, lung, colon, prostate, and ovarian cancer have hidden or overt metastatic colonies. With the advent of diagnostic nanotechnology, these numbers are expected to greatly diminish. This review provides a brief description of nanoparticle (liposome, quantum dot, and dendrimer)-mediated cancer therapy in the last decade with an emphasis on the development and use of dendrimers in cancer therapeutics.

Figure 1

Graphical representation of dendrimers from core to generation G = 4, showing the linear increase in diameter.