Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 35 Clathrin vesicles
help allatostatin-coated
CdSe-ZnS nanoparticles
penetrate cell membranes.
(Adapted from [
47
])
8 Conclusion and Future Prospects
Some nanotechnology for drug delivery and imaging applications is already being
marketed. Future efforts in cancer therapy are envisaged to be driven by multifunc-
tionality and modularity, i.e., creating functional modalities that can be assembled
into nanoplatforms and can be modified to meet the particular demands of a given
clinical situation. These strategies couple targeting and imaging/monitoring
modalities, and can selectively deliver therapeutics intracellularly. Targeting
modalities can be based on the recognition properties of cell-surface receptor
ligands, monoclonal antibodies, peptides, or aptamers. Eventually, multiplex
nanoparticles may be capable of detecting malignant cells (active targeting moiety),
visualizing their location in the body (real-time in vivo imaging), killing the cancer
cells with minimal side effects by sparing normal cells (active targeting and
controlled drug release or photothermal ablation), and monitoring treatment effects
in real time.
Acknowledgements Authors are thankful to the Department of Science and Technology (DST)
and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India, for supporting the “Nanotechnology
Application Centre” under “Nano-Mission” and “NMITLI” schemes.
References
1. McNeeley KM, Karathanasis E, Annapragada AV, Bellamkonda RV (2009) Biomaterials
30:2329-2339
2. Felton EJ, Reich DH (2007) Biological applications of multifunctional magnetic nanowires.
In: Labhasetwa V, Leslie-Pelecky DL (eds) Biomedical applications of nanotechnology.
Wiley, Hoboken, pp 1-22 doi: 10.1002/9780470152928 ch1
