Chapter 4 - Nanoparticles and lung cancer

Abstract

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death in humans worldwide. Various cancer therapies are available to treat cancer but the main causes of concern with most are the toxic effects as well as diagnosis at an advanced stage. These factors lead to high mortality in a majority of patients. These shortcomings can be overcome to a certain extent by either reducing the dose of drug or by early diagnosis. Recently nanotechnology is being explored extensively toward early diagnosis and detection of cancer. Nanotechnology has developed many effective nanomedicines with advance treatment regimens. Various nanosystems have been developed to enhance the therapeutic effect of drugs as well as selective targeting and delivery of drugs to specific sites of tumor. Nanoparticle-based medicines and therapeutics is becoming more important in the treatment of different forms of cancers, especially lung cancer. Detection, diagnosis, imaging, and treatment of lung cancers utilize many nanoparticle-based medicines and therapeutics. Innovations in the application of nanoparticles in lung cancer is a challenging area of research, particularly onsite delivery of drug. This chapter discusses the importance of nanoparticles in the treatment of lung cancer and emerging nanoparticle therapeutics (nanomedicines and drug carriers) and their applications in detection, diagnosis, and cancer therapies.