Application of Nanoradioprotective Agents in Cancer Therapy

Abstract

AbstractRadiotherapy (RT) has been widely employed in health centers and hospitals for the treatment of several malignant tumors. The main goal of RT is to augment the therapeutic efficacy of treatment by delivering supreme dose of ionizing radiation to tumor sites while diminishing undesirable radiation dose to healthy tissues to restrict the severe adverse effects. However, despite all the advances and progressions in radiation therapy technology, irradiation of surrounding normal tissues always occurs and results in damage and side effects. Accordingly, radiation protectors with the ability to protect healthy tissue can be a promising approach for radiation escalation, thereby expanding the therapeutic ratio. Although several radiation protectors are available for clinical use to protect healthy tissue from the deleterious effects of radiation, some drawbacks such as short plasma half-life and rapid clearance greatly hamper sustainable biological applications. Over the past few years, multifunctional nanomaterials have emerged as very promising tools in the biological and medical field, opening a new route for developing potential nanoradioprotective agents as some nanoparticles exhibit intrinsic radioprotective properties. Accordingly, within the framework of these criteria, this chapter summarizes some exciting advances in protection of normal tissue from inevitable radiation during RT by multifunctional nanomaterials. In addition, this review highlights an outlook of nanomaterial designs for potential radioprotection applications and also discusses the challenges followed.KeywordsRadioprotectionRadiotherapyNanomaterialsHealthy tissueIonizing radiation