RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CANCER THERAPY BY THE USE OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. The biological application of nanoparticle is a rapidly developing area of nanotechnology that raises new possibilities in the diagnosis and treatment of human cancers. In cancer diagnostics, fluorescent nanoparticles can be used for multiple simultaneous profiling of tumour biomarkers and for detection of multiple genes and matrix RNA with fluorescent in-situ hybridisation. A solid or hollow structure, with diameter in the 1 - 1,000 nanometre range nanoparticles have large surface areas and functional groups for conjugating to multiple diagnostic (e.g., optical, magnetic or radioisotopic,) and therapeutic (e.g., anticancer) agents. Bioaffinity of nanoparticle probes have led for molecular and cellular imaging, targeted nanoparticle drug for cancer therapy and integrated nanodevices for early cancer detection and screening. In this review, we give an overview of the use of bioconjugated nanoparticles for the delivery and targeting of anticancer drugs.