Utilizing nanomaterials for cancer treatment and diagnosis: an overview

Abstract

Cancer is a deadly disease with complex pathophysiological nature and is the leading cause of death worldwide. Traditional diagnosis methods often detect cancer at a considerably critical stage and the conventional methods of treatment like chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy have several limitations, multidrug resistance, cytotoxicity, and lack of specificity are a few examples. These pose substantial challenge for effective and favourable cancer treatment. The advent of nanotechnology has revolutionized the face of cancer diagnosis and treatment. Nanoparticles, which have a size range of 1-100 nm, are biocompatible and have special optical, magnetic, and electrical capabilities, less toxic, more stable, exhibit permeability and retention effect, and are used for precise targeting. There are several classes of nanoparticles each having their own sets of unique properties. NPs have played an important role in the drug delivery system, overcoming the multi-drug resistance, reducing the side-effects as seen in conventional therapeutic methods and hence able to solve the limitations of conventional methods of diagnosis and treatment. This review discusses the four major classes of nanoparticles (Lipid based NPs, Carbon NPs and Metallic NPs and Polymeric NPs): their discovery and introduction in medical field, unique properties and characteristics, advantages and disadvantages, sub-categories and characteristics of these categories, major area of application in Cancer diagnosis and treatment, and latest methodologies where these are used in cancer treatment.

Keywords: Cancer; Cellular targeting; Chemotherapy; Etc; Multidrug resistance; Nanoparticles.

Fig. 1

Diagram illustrating the extracellular and intracellular origins of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. [12]

Fig. 2

Role of nanoparticles in protein regulation [15]

Fig. 3

Mechanism of action of nanoparticles in radiation therapy [19]

Fig. 4

Mechanism of action of nanoparticles in phototherapy in treatment of brain tumor [23]

Fig. 5

Traditional versus 3 generations of Lipid NPs [29]

Fig. 6

Different types of liposomes [60]

Fig. 7

Structure of SLNs and the way it can be functionalized depending on the selection of drugs, lipids, surfactants and protecting molecules [70]

Fig. 8

Type of SLNs [71]

Fig. 9

Structural organisation of different types of NLC: illustrating the different components present in each of the three types of NLC [73]

Fig. 10

Structural modifications those can be induced on surface of NLC to use them in different diagnostic and therapeutic purposes for cancer [75]

Fig. 11

Schematic diagram of structure of graphene: showing the typical covalent bonding and sheet like stacking between each layer of graphene [85]

Fig. 12

Different types of Fullerene structures ranging from carbon numbers from 24 to 180 [106]

Fig. 13

Illustrating the different types of Carbon Nanotubes: SWCNT size varies from 0.5 to 2.5 nm while MWCNT varies in size from 7 to 100 nm [121]

Fig. 14

Carbon nanohorn as drug delivering agent for cancer treatment [132]

Fig. 15

Classification of metallic NPs based on shapes [135]

Fig. 16

Role of gold nanoparticle in various fields of cancer detection and treatment [144]