Cancer is perhaps one of the gravest challenges that humanity has been
facing for centuries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is the
second leading cause of death worldwide. Nanotechnology has revolutionized cancer
research by providing a targeted and selective alternative to conventional treatment
modalities and drug delivery protocols with lesser side effects and negligible systemic
toxicity. Nanoparticles (NP), particularly noble metal nanoparticles, are one such
competent alternatives that have been extensively studied and applied to various
aspects of cancer therapy with exemplary results. Nanoparticles of noble metals such as
silver, gold, and platinum possess unique properties like small size, non-toxicity, high
surface-to-volume ratio, tunable optical properties,and ease of functionalization with
antibodies, nucleic acids, nucleotides, and peptides. These nanoparticles have an
inherent advantage over traditional moieties regarding intracellular delivery due to their
small size. This proved very helpful in the gene silencing method involving smallinterfering RNA for the down-regulation of gene expressions in cancerous cells. In
particular, gold nanoparticles (AuNP) are highly selective radiosensitizers, whereas
silver nanoparticles (AgNP) have anti-proliferative and apoptosis-inducing effects on
cancer cells. Platinum nanoparticles (PtNP) and AuNPs display exceptional
thermoplasmonic properties and hence are being used effectively in cancer photo
thermal therapy (PTT). PtNPs have the potential to amplify the efficacy and selectivity
of the hadron therapy. This chapter will elaborate on all the above-mentioned roles of
noble metal NPs in creating an effective anti-cancer therapy paradigm focusing on
theranostics and drug delivery mechanisms.
Keywords: AgNP, AuNP, Blood-brain barrier, Cancer, Chemotherapy, Cytotoxicity, Drug delivery, Genotoxicity, Green synthesis, Hadron therapy, Laser ablation, PtNP, Nanotechnology, Nanoparticle, Nanomedicine, Photo thermal therapy, Surface-to-volume ratio, Theranostics, Radiotherapy, Quantum dots.
