Abstract
Nanoparticles have become a powerful tool in oncology not only as carrier of the highly toxic chemotherapeutic drugs but also as imaging contrast agents that provide valuable information about the state of the disease and its progression. The enhanced permeation and retention effect for loaded nanocarriers in tumors allow substantial improvement of selectivity and safety of anticancer nanomedicines. Additionally, the possibility to design stimuli-responsive nanocarriers able to release their payload in response to specific stimuli provide an excellent control on the administered dosage. The aim of this review is not to present a comprehensive revision of the different theranostic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) which have been published in the recent years but just to describe a few selected examples to offer a panoramic view to the reader about the suitability and effectiveness of these nanocarriers in the oncology field.
Highlights
Nanoparticles have become a powerful tool in the clinical field, by their capacity to deliver drugs to diseased tissues in a controlled and selective manner [1], and by their ability to simultaneously provide information about the stage of the disease progression [2]
The aim of this review is not to present a comprehensive revision of the different theranostic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) which have been published in the recent years [35,36] but just to describe a few selected examples to offer a panoramic view to the reader about the suitability and effectiveness of these nanocarriers in the oncology field
The passive accumulation of nanocarriers in tumoral tissues by enhanced permeation and retention (EPR) in combination with the nanocarrier surface decoration with targeting moieties reduces the side toxicity associated to antitumoral drugs
Summary
Nanoparticles have become a powerful tool in the clinical field, by their capacity to deliver drugs to diseased tissues in a controlled and selective manner [1], and by their ability to simultaneously provide information about the stage of the disease progression [2] Nanosystems endowed with these dual functions, drug delivery, and diagnosis, received the name of theranostic nanocarriers. A vast number of different nanoparticles composed of both organic materials as polymers [7], lipids [8], and dendrimers [9] as well as by inorganic ones such as metals [10], ceramics [11], and carbon allotropes [12], among others have been reported exhibiting excellent drug delivery capacities The selectivity of these nanocarriers has been enhanced anchoring targeting moieties such as antibodies [13], aptamers [14], proteins [15], peptides [16], and small molecules [17] on their surface. For the sake of clarity, these nanosystems are categorized in different sections according to the associated imaging technique
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