Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have gained significant interest as nanovectors for combined imaging and photothermal therapy of tumors. Delivered systemically, GNPs preferentially accumulate at the tumor site via the enhanced permeability and retention effect, and when irradiated with near infrared light, produce sufficient heat to treat tumor tissue. The efficacy of this process strongly depends on...

Recent advances in cancer therapy have utilized nanovectors to deliver cytotoxic drugs (so called nanodrugs) to reduce the drug related side effects and improve anti-cancer efficiency. Cancer tissues consist of inherent leaky blood vessels with high permeability, which allows enhanced permeation and retention of therapeutic nanodrugs (EPR effect). The periodical sex hormonal milieus during mens...

Extracellular vesicles (EV) are endogenously produced, membrane-bound vesicles that contain various molecules. Depending on their size and origins, EVs are classified into apoptotic bodies, microvesicles, and exosomes. A fundamental function of EVs is to mediate intercellular communication. In kidneys, recent research has begun to suggest a role of EVs, especially exosomes, in cell-cell communi...

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, is a chronic, recrudescent disease that invades the gastrointestinal tract, and it requires surgery or lifelong medicinal therapy. The conventional medicinal therapies for IBD, such as anti-inflammatories, glucocorticoids, and immunosuppressants, are limited because of their systemic adverse effects and tox...

Although mentions of nanoparticles in relation to biomedicine appeared in the late 1970s and are now the subject of over 10,000 publications per year, the term “Nanomedicine” only appeared at the turn of this century, and less than 30 papers including this term were published up to 2005. Ten years later, Web of Science indicates the publication of more than 1000 Nanomedicine articles in 2015 am...