Abstract:
Nanomaterial-based therapeutics is an emerging tool for the treatment of numerous
types of cancer. Various types of polymeric, lipid and inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) result in a
wider series of applications in cancer diagnosis and therapeutics. The NPs properties are due to
high surface area to volume ratio, surface plasmon resonance, absorption in the visible spectrum
and light scattering. These unique characteristics of NPs arise due to their optical surface properties
for conjugation/surface modification and smaller size. In cancer therapeutics, NPs based
products are used as a biomarker for early detection/diagnosis of tumours, drug nano-conjugates
for the delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs to the tumour-specific site, chemo-protective agents,
etc.
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Furthermore, other advantages of NPs are biocompatibility, lesser toxicity, enhanced permeability
and retention effect, higher stability, and specific targeting with a selective accumulation of nano
drugs in the tissue of the tumour. The selective targeting of NPs to tumour tissue is possible by
adding surface-active targeting agents i.e., antibodies. The selective transport of drug NPs conjugates
to the cancer cells is increased and extravagated due to permeable vasculature from endothelial
cells gap while failing the transport of drug NPs conjugates in normal cells. This review emphasizes
metallic NPs, including silver NPs (AgNPs) and gold NPs (AuNPs), which are extensively
reconnoitered in various applications in cellular targeting, imaging, drug delivery, DNA-NPs
conjugates for biosensor/point of care devices development, photothermal/photodynamic therapy,
protein-protein interaction, etc. In addition, this review discussed different synthetic methods of
AgNPs and AuNPs and characterization methods. Furthermore, it highlighted the different properties
and applications of AgNPs and AuNPs in cancer theranostics.