Advanced Nanotherapeutic Systems for Drug Delivery and Imaging in Cancer

Abstract

Recent progress in nanotechnology has paved the way for development of new tools for cancer imaging and treatment. Failure of early diagnosis is one of the major hurdles in cancer treatment. In addition, conventional treatment approaches suffer from problems of non-specific bio distribution of chemotherapeutic agent, low aqueous solubility, poor bioavailability, narrow therapeutic window, and rapid clearance. Nanotechnology addresses many of the aforementioned limitations and provides scope for early diagnosis, tumor-targeted delivery via passive or active targeting mechanisms, personalized treatment utilizing nanotheranostics, controlled drug release, and co-delivery of multiple therapeutic agents. This chapter summarizes various merits of nanotechnology with emphasis on different types of nanocarriers that are presently being used for drug delivery and imaging. As per these studies, the fruition of nanotechnology may make the disease curable by early diagnosis and specific drug delivery.