title: Targeted superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for early detection of cancer: Possibilities and challenges.
abstract: Nanomedicine, the integration of nanotechnological tools in medicine demonstrated promising potential to revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of various human health conditions. Nanoparticles (NPs) have shown much promise in diagnostics of cancer, especially since they can accommodate targeting molecules on their surface, which search for specific tumor cell receptors upon injection into the blood stream. This concentrates the NPs in the desired tumor location. Furthermore, such receptor-specific targeting may be exploited for detection of potential metastases in an early stage. Some NPs, such as superparamagnetic iron oxide NPs (SPIONs), are also compatible with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which makes their clinical translation and application rather easy and accessible for tumor imaging purposes. Furthermore, multifunctional and/or theranostic NPs can be used for simultaneous imaging of cancer and drug delivery. In this review article, we will specifically focus on the application of SPIONs in early detection and imaging of major cancer types.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) have been reported by many to be useful as an MRI contrast agent in the detection of tumors. To further enhance the tumor imaging, SPIONs can be coupled with tumor targeting motifs. In this article, the authors performed a comprehensive review on the current status of using targeted SPIONS in tumor detection and also the potential hurdles to overcome.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bakhtiary
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Amir Ata
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Saei
authors.affiliation: Persian Gulf Marine Biotechnology Research Center, The Persian Gulf Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hajipour
authors.affiliation: Department of New Materials and Biosystems, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, Germany; Department of Nanotechnology & Nanotechnology Research Center, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raoufi
authors.affiliation: Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Department of Radiology, Stanford University, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Ophir
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Vermesh
authors.affiliation: Department of Nanotechnology & Nanotechnology Research Center, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA. Electronic address: Mahmoudi@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Morteza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mahmoudi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000737:chemistry*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000379:methods; D005290:Ferric Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D059346:Magnets / Q000737:chemistry*; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000175:diagnosis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D000068936:Theranostic Nanomedicine / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D005290:Ferric Compounds; C000499:ferric oxide
keywords: Diagnosis; Ligand; Magnetic resonance imaging; SPION; Targeting