Detecting and treating cancer with nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology offers many opportunities for enhanced diagnostic and therapeutic medicine against cancer and other diseases. In this review, the special properties that result from the nanoscale size of quantum dots, metal colloids, superparamagnetic iron oxide, and carbon-based nanostructures are reviewed and interpreted against a background of the structural and electronic detail that gives rise to their nanotechnologic behavior. The detection and treatment of cancer is emphasized, with special attention paid to the biologic targeting of the disease. The future of nanotechnology in cancer research and clinical practice is projected to focus on 'theranostic' nanoparticles that are both diagnostic and therapeutic by design.
Hartman
Keith B
KB
Department of Chemistry, Richard E. Smalley Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, and Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77251-1892, USA.
Wilson
Lon J
LJ
Rosenblum
Michael G
MG
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D050997:Nanomedicine / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D045663:Quantum Dots