Nanoparticles for Cancer Detection and Therapy

The administration of nanovectors, nanoparticles or other systems having nanoscale components, that direct active agents to concentrate preferentially into their target lesion sites, has emerged as a striking treatment option which can improve therapeutic index and or enhance the imaging contrast. The challenge in achieving desired pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and toxicological profiles, is decoupled from the specific in vitro recognition of a biological target, but is directly related to the presence of numerous biobarriers which all molecular agents or nanovectors should surpass to efficiently reach their destination. For more than a decade, oncology has been occupying the foremost position in nanomedicine, being the area of medicine for which numerous ʼnanodrugs’ are routinely used in the clinical situation. This chapter starts with an introduction to tumor physiology and medicaments currently used in oncology. Later, therapeutic and imaging delivery vectors from a ʼnano-toolbox’, in clinical use and under various stages of development, are presented. The ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of these systems for the design of specific, personalized and targeted medications are then critically discussed. The advantages of the nanovectors’ rational design to efficiently negotiate biobarriers and various aspects of a preclinical characterization for the nanoscale systems are further argued. The chapter concludes with an outlook on the unresolved issues and opportunities in cancer nanomedicine.