Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Jul 30;16(15):5354.
doi: 10.3390/ma16155354.

Nanoparticles in Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment

Jaya Baranwal  1 , Brajesh Barse  2 , Amalia Di Petrillo  3 , Gianluca Gatto  4 , Luca Pilia  5 , Amit Kumar  4
Affiliations
Review

Nanoparticles in Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment

Jaya Baranwal et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

The use of tailored medication delivery in cancer treatment has the potential to increase efficacy while decreasing unfavourable side effects. For researchers looking to improve clinical outcomes, chemotherapy for cancer continues to be the most challenging topic. Cancer is one of the worst illnesses despite the limits of current cancer therapies. New anticancer medications are therefore required to treat cancer. Nanotechnology has revolutionized medical research with new and improved materials for biomedical applications, with a particular focus on therapy and diagnostics. In cancer research, the application of metal nanoparticles as substitute chemotherapy drugs is growing. Metals exhibit inherent or surface-induced anticancer properties, making metallic nanoparticles extremely useful. The development of metal nanoparticles is proceeding rapidly and in many directions, offering alternative therapeutic strategies and improving outcomes for many cancer treatments. This review aimed to present the most commonly used nanoparticles for cancer applications.

Keywords: biomedical; cancer diagnosis; metal nanoparticle; nanoparticle; nanotechnology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Types of cancer treatment.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Classification of nanoparticles based on their physicochemical properties.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Using iodide-doped gold nanoparticles and photoacoustic imaging to measure oxidative stress (adapted from reference [44]).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Selenium species with anticancer properties.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Several drug-targeting techniques for the tumor.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Active targeting of cancer stem cells with nanoparticles.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Nano-engineered MSCs as active targeting drug delivery vehicles.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Drug delivery platforms for cancer treatment. (A) Gold nanospheres, (B) Gold nanorods, (C) Carbon nanotubes, (D) Nanogels, (E) Polymeric NPs, (F) Polymeric micelles, and (G) Liposomes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Vinardell M., Mitjans M. Antitumor Activities of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles. Nanomaterials. 2015;5:1004–1021. doi: 10.3390/nano5021004. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Conde J., Doria G., Baptista P. Noble Metal Nanoparticles Applications in Cancer. J. Drug Deliv. 2012;2012:751075. doi: 10.1155/2012/751075. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization Global Centre for Traditional Medicine. [(accessed on 15 May 2022)]. Available online: https://www.who.int/initiatives/who-global-centre-for-traditional-medicine.
    1. Sutradhar K.B., Amin M.L. Nanotechnology in Cancer Drug Delivery and Selective Targeting. ISRN Nanotechnol. 2014;2014:939378. doi: 10.1155/2014/939378. - DOI
    1. Zhao G., Rodriguez L.B. Molecular targeting of liposomal nanoparticles to tumor microenvironment. Int. J. Nanomed. 2012;8:61–71. doi: 10.2147/IJN.S37859. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources