Emerging Nanoparticle-Based Diagnostics and Therapeutics for Cancer: Innovations and Challenges

Abstract

Malignant growth is expected to surpass other significant causes of death as one of the top reasons for dismalness and mortality worldwide. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) study, this illness causes approximately between 9 and 10 million instances of deaths annually. Chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery are the three main methods of treating cancer. These methods seek to completely eradicate all cancer cells while having the fewest possible unintended impacts on healthy cell types. Owing to the lack of target selectivity, the majority of medications have substantial side effects. On the other hand, nanomaterials have transformed the identification, diagnosis, and management of cancer. Nanostructures with biomimetic properties have been grown as of late, fully intent on observing and treating the sickness. These nanostructures are expected to be consumed by growth in areas with profound disease. Furthermore, because of their extraordinary physicochemical properties, which incorporate nanoscale aspects, a more prominent surface region, explicit geometrical features, and the ability to embody different substances within or on their outside surfaces, nanostructures are remarkable nano-vehicles for conveying restorative specialists to their designated regions. This review discusses recent developments in nanostructured materials such as graphene, dendrimers, cell-penetrating peptide nanoparticles, nanoliposomes, lipid nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles, and nano-omics in the diagnosis and management of cancer.

Keywords: dendrimers; graphene; lipid nanoparticles; nano-omics; nano-oncology.

Figure 1

The statistics of the risk of cancer in both males and females according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This figure is redrawn from Mattiuzzi and Lippi [5] and is an open access article (copyright © 2019 Atlantis Press International B.V., Dordrecht, the Netherlands) distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)-No Commercial 4 license.

Figure 2

The different nanoparticles for the treatment of cancer. This figure is constructed by the authors using BioRender, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Figure 3

Dendrimers and their different types for chemotherapy and gene therapy. This figure is constructed by the authors using BioRender, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Figure 4

Graphene-based nanomaterials in the treatment of cancer. GNRs, graphene nanoribbons; GNSs, graphene nanosheets; FLG, few-layer graphene; MLG, multilayer graphene nanoplatelets; GO, graphene oxide; rGO, reduced graphene oxide; GQDs, graphene quantum dots. This figure is constructed by the authors using BioRender, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Figure 5

CPP nanoparticles induced apoptosis mechanism. This figure is constructed by the authors using BioRender, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Figure 6

Magnetic nanoparticles with biomolecules and nanocomponents. QDs, quantum dots. This figure is adapted with permission (copyright © 2021, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd., Singapore) from Varghese et al. [184].

Figure 7

The application of multi-omics technology to identify potential bacterial markers in colorectal cancer (CRC) through DNA sequencing via a metagenomics approach. This figure is reproduced from Dalal et al. [195] and is an open access article (copyright © 2020 by the authors) distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)-No Commercial-No Derivatives license.