Chapter 12 - Nanopharmacokinetics: key role in in vivo imaging

Abstract

The necessity to address the challenges and overcome the limitations, curiosity and motivation to connect the ocean of knowledge with the advances in nanotechnology could bring remarkable evolutions in contemporary oncology, opening new horizons for cancer diagnostics and therapeutics. While addressing the limitations of the conventional drugs in novel ways, the developments in synthesizing, fine-tuning the morphology, size, and surface properties of the nanoparticles and conjugating them with multiple functional groups have offered a variety of multitasking “nanowarriors,” having the ability to detect the tumor, release the loaded drugs, and monitor the effect at the site of interest thereafter. Although many of the properties can be controlled by engineering these cancer theranostic (therapeutic and diagnostic) agents, the journey of these agents to approval for clinical use has several biological, immunological, and translational hurdles. Having signified the need for a thorough understanding of pharmacokinetics (PK) of these contrast agents, this chapter encompasses some salient research reports engaged in improving imaging, tumor-specific drug release, and PK of nanoparticles for their potential clinical applications in cancer theranostics.