title: Nanosensors for early cancer detection and for therapeutic drug monitoring.
abstract: The use of nanotechnology for drug delivery in cancer therapy has raised high expectations. Additionally, the use of nanomaterials in sensors to extract and detect tumor specific biomarkers, circulating tumor cells, or extracellular vesicles shed by the tumor holds the promise to detect cancer much earlier and hence improve long-term survival of the patients. Moreover, the monitoring of the anticancer drug concentration, which has a narrow therapeutic window, will allow for a personalized dosing of the drug and will lead to improved therapeutic outcome and life quality of the patient. This review will provide an overview on the use of nanosensors for the early diagnosis of cancer and for the therapeutic drug monitoring, giving some examples. We envision nanosensors to make significant improvements in the cancer management as easy-to-use point-of-care devices for a broad population of users.
authors.affiliation: IFOM, The FIRC Institute for Molecular Oncology Foundation, IFOM-IEO Campus, Via Adamello 16, 20139 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Salvati
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Station 12, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.|Fondazione IRCCS Institute of Neurology Carlo Besta, Via Amadeo 42, 20133 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Stellacci
authors.affiliation: Fondazione IRCCS Institute of Neurology Carlo Besta, Via Amadeo 42, 20133 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krol
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D016903:Drug Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation*; D055354:Exosomes / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D050997:Nanomedicine / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry; D036103:Nanotechnology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor
keywords: biomarkers; circulating tumor cells; exosomes; nanoparticles; nanosensors; therapeutic drug monitoring