Applications of nanoparticles in cancer medicine and beyond: optical and multimodal in vivo imaging, tissue targeting and drug delivery.
BACKGROUND
Nanotechnology has opened up the way to the engineering of new organized materials endowed with improved performances. In the past decade, engineered nanoparticles (NPs) have been progressively implemented by exploiting synthetic strategies that yield complex materials capable of performing functions with applications also in medicine. Indeed, in the field of 'nanomedicine' it has been explored the possibility to design multifunctional nanosystems, characterized by high analytical performances and stability, low toxicity and specificity towards a given cell target.


METHODS
In this review article, we summarize the advances in the engineering of NPs for biomedical applications, from optical imaging (OI) to multimodal OI and targeted drug delivery. For this purpose, we will provide some examples of how investigations in nanomedicine can support preclinical and clinical research generating innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in oncology.


CONCLUSIONS
The progressive breakthroughs in nanomedicine have supported the development of multifunctional and multimodal NPs. In particular, NPs are significantly impacting the diagnostic and therapeutic strategies since they allow the development of: NP-based OI probes containing more than one modality-specific contrast agent; surface functionalized NPs for specific 'molecular recognition'. Therefore, the design and characterization of innovative NP-based systems/devices have great applicative potential into the medical field.
a 1 Institute for Maternal and Child Health - IRCCS "Burlo Garofolo" , via dell'Istria, 65/1, 34137 Trieste, Italy +39 040 3757722 ; +39 040 3785210 ; stefania.biffi@burlo.trieste.it.
Stefania
S
Biffi
b 2 University of Ferrara, LTTA Centre, Department of Morphology, Surgery and Experimental Medicine , Via Fossato di Mortara 70, 44121 Ferrara, Italy .
Rebecca
R
Voltan
c 3 University of Bologna, Department of Chemistry "G. Ciamician" , Via Selmi 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
Enrico
E
Rampazzo
d 4 University of Bologna, Department of Chemistry "G. Ciamician" , Via Selmi 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
Luca
L
Prodi
e 5 Institute for Maternal and Child Health - IRCCS "Burlo Garofolo" , via dell'Istria, 65/1, 34137 Trieste, Italy +39 040 3785478 ; +39 040 3785210; giorgio.zauli@unife.it.
Giorgio
G
Zauli
f 6 University of Ferrara, LTTA Centre, Department of Morphology, Surgery and Experimental Medicine , Via Fossato di Mortara 70, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
Paola
P
Secchiero
D000818:Animals; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D008495:Medical Oncology; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D061848:Optical Imaging
diagnostic strategies; drug delivery; nanoparticles; optical imaging