Nanomedicine - the Future of Cancer Treatment: A Review

Conventional cancer therapies are limited to surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Conventional treatments come with significant adverse effects. Modern cancer treatments focus on precise drug delivery to the cancer tissues and minimize adverse effects on healthy cells. Researchers have been working on an improved technique for delivering chemotherapeutic agents precisely at the molecular level in the tumor tissue. It has led to the use of nanotechnology in cancer treatment. Nanotechnology is the science and engineering of controlling matter, at the molecular scale, to create devices with novel chemical, physical and biological properties. Nanoscale objects are used themselves or as part of larger devices containing multiple nanoscale objects. Almost every field of Biosciences uses nanotechnology and all of which have an impact on biomedicine. It has the potential to change the current methods to diagnose and treat cancer. There has been real progress in translating nano-based cancer therapies and diagnostics into the clinic, and much more are in development. Nanoparticles are mainly used as nanocarriers to deliver the cytotoxic drugs to the tumor tissue. Use of nanoparticles is based on different concepts of pharmacology. Nanomedicine also is utilized to deliver multiple drugs at the cancer site at the same time for a better cytotoxic effect. CytImmune Sciences is a developing field of nanomedicine for targeted chemotherapy method. They selectively deliver the drug at the cancer site because of the increased permeability of the blood vessels at the tumor site. This article reviews various nanomedicine-based cancer therapeutics.