Anticancer Therapeutics Decorated Nanomaterials

Abstract

The cause of cancer diseases is dependent on various internal and external factors including inherited immune conditions, and genetic mutations and unhealthy diet, tobacco-chewing and smoking habits, and infections, respectively. Nanoscale drug delivery platforms have shown promising clinical results in several types of cancer and inflammatory disorders. Nanoparticles have special characteristics of high surface to volume ratio, size controllability, and can be easily functionalized during synthesis. Cytotoxic therapeutics adsorbed to nanoparticles are used during hormone therapy, immunotherapy, chemotherapy, etc. which preferentially kill the rapidly dividing cancer cells while minimizing the damage to the normal tissue. The toxic core of inorganic nanoparticles is protected by providing a physical barrier (functional polymers) between the core and the external environment. After linking to poly (ethylene glycol) molecules, the polymer-coated toxic dots did not change their optical and colloidal properties over a broad range of external environment conditions. This spontaneous encapsulation process removes the problems of particle aggregation in physiological buffers.