Challenges and opportunities in the advancement of nanomedicines.
Nanomedicine-based approaches to cancer treatment face several challenges that differ from those encountered by conventional medicines during clinical development. A systematic exploration of these issues has led us to identify the following needs and opportunities for further development: (1) robust and general methods for the accurate characterization of nanoparticle size, shape, and composition; (2) scalable approaches for producing nanomedicines with optimized bioavailability and excretion profiles; (3) particle engineering for maintaining low levels of nonspecific cytotoxicity and sufficient stability during storage; (4) optimization of surface chemistries for maximum targeted delivery and minimum nonspecific adsorption; (5) practical methods for quantifying ligand density and distributions on multivalent nanocarriers; and (6) the design of multifunctional nanomedicines for novel combination therapies with supportable levels of bioaccumulation.
Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, 560 Oval Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. alexwei@purdue.edu
Alexander
A
Wei
Jonathan G
JG
Mehtala
Anil K
AK
Patri
D000327:Adsorption; D000818:Animals; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D050997:Nanomedicine; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*
D004337:Drug Carriers