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T. Pal et al.
1 Introduction
Cancer is the leading cause of death costing millions of people their lives globally
despite the efforts made to alleviate its preponderance. The conventional standard for
cancer treatment includes surgical removal of the tumor along with chemotherapy,
radiotherapy, etc., which have low efficiency and cause serious side-effects such as
toxicity and limited biodistribution due to their poor pharmacokinetic characteristics
(Naidu et al. 2004). To solve the concerns mentioned earlier, there is an exponential rise in the use of nanotechnology to develop effective diagnostic and therapeutic
platforms. Nanomaterials made from organic, inorganic, protein, and lipids can incorporate a variety of bioactive agents and are capable of crossing biological barriers
and selectively target the malignant cells and deliver anticancer drugs through the
sustainable release of the drug. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics profiles
can also be controlled, enhancing the accumulated drug concentration at tumor sites.
Moreover, nanocarriers can be loaded with multidrug for synergistic activity (Navya
and Daima 2016). When NPs enter the cell via receptor-mediated endocytosis avoids
recognition by P-glycoprotein, one of the critical drug resistance mechanisms (Larsen
et al. 2000). These are few reasons among the others that show nanotechnology is
revolutionizing the field of drug delivery and cancer therapeutics.
Herein, we have tried to give a brief illustration of the advancement of
nanotechnology over the conventional method used so far.
2 Nanotechnology and Future Possibilities
Nanotechnology mainly deals with the engineered functional system at a molecular
scale. Sometimes, nanotechnology is quite capable to formulate new devices and
materials with a broad range of applications, such as nanoelectronics, nanomedicine,
biomaterials for energy productions, and so on. Also, the potential of nanomaterials
for biomedical applications is largely dependent on its surface charge, shape, and
size as it directly affects the nano–bio interface interaction and aids in internalization and cellular endocytosis of the nanocarriers. Again, designing nanocarriers is
a sophisticated process that has to meet certain requirements to be an efficient drug
delivery system. Further, negatively charged nanoparticles accumulate at tumor sites
efficiently whereas positively charged nanocarriers are internalized more efficiently
due to negatively charged cell membranes. Further, surface chemistry plays a crucial
role in designing nanomaterial as the biological impact of the nanoparticle can be
controlled by chemical modifications restraining cellular interactions, thus reducing
potential side effects. Surface conjugation with ligands such as antibodies, aptamers,
oligosaccharides, peptides, etc. can alter the fate of nanomaterial, hence it is important to carefully examine them after surface conjugation to measure the increased
sensitivity and specificity as well as to avoid toxic effects postmodification (Sied et al.
2019). Therefore, the introduction of engineered nanomaterials is the best choice to
T. Pal et al.
1 Introduction
Cancer is the leading cause of death costing millions of people their lives globally
despite the efforts made to alleviate its preponderance. The conventional standard for
cancer treatment includes surgical removal of the tumor along with chemotherapy,
radiotherapy, etc., which have low efficiency and cause serious side-effects such as
toxicity and limited biodistribution due to their poor pharmacokinetic characteristics
(Naidu et al. 2004). To solve the concerns mentioned earlier, there is an exponential rise in the use of nanotechnology to develop effective diagnostic and therapeutic
platforms. Nanomaterials made from organic, inorganic, protein, and lipids can incorporate a variety of bioactive agents and are capable of crossing biological barriers
and selectively target the malignant cells and deliver anticancer drugs through the
sustainable release of the drug. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics profiles
can also be controlled, enhancing the accumulated drug concentration at tumor sites.
Moreover, nanocarriers can be loaded with multidrug for synergistic activity (Navya
and Daima 2016). When NPs enter the cell via receptor-mediated endocytosis avoids
recognition by P-glycoprotein, one of the critical drug resistance mechanisms (Larsen
et al. 2000). These are few reasons among the others that show nanotechnology is
revolutionizing the field of drug delivery and cancer therapeutics.
Herein, we have tried to give a brief illustration of the advancement of
nanotechnology over the conventional method used so far.
2 Nanotechnology and Future Possibilities
Nanotechnology mainly deals with the engineered functional system at a molecular
scale. Sometimes, nanotechnology is quite capable to formulate new devices and
materials with a broad range of applications, such as nanoelectronics, nanomedicine,
biomaterials for energy productions, and so on. Also, the potential of nanomaterials
for biomedical applications is largely dependent on its surface charge, shape, and
size as it directly affects the nano–bio interface interaction and aids in internalization and cellular endocytosis of the nanocarriers. Again, designing nanocarriers is
a sophisticated process that has to meet certain requirements to be an efficient drug
delivery system. Further, negatively charged nanoparticles accumulate at tumor sites
efficiently whereas positively charged nanocarriers are internalized more efficiently
due to negatively charged cell membranes. Further, surface chemistry plays a crucial
role in designing nanomaterial as the biological impact of the nanoparticle can be
controlled by chemical modifications restraining cellular interactions, thus reducing
potential side effects. Surface conjugation with ligands such as antibodies, aptamers,
oligosaccharides, peptides, etc. can alter the fate of nanomaterial, hence it is important to carefully examine them after surface conjugation to measure the increased
sensitivity and specificity as well as to avoid toxic effects postmodification (Sied et al.
2019). Therefore, the introduction of engineered nanomaterials is the best choice to