Cancer nanotechnology is a multidisciplinary research area in which science, engineering
and medicine embrace each other to actualize the application of nanotechnology in molecular imaging,
molecular diagnosis, and targeted therapy of cancer. Nanometer-sized particles such as semiconductor
quantum dots, iron oxide nanocrystals and colloidal gold have unique optical, magnetic and physical
properties. The surface of these nanoparticles can be conveniently functionalized to conjugate
monoclonal antibodies, peptides, aptamers and small molecules, and the resulting nanoscale conjugates
can be used for targeted cancer imaging and targeted cancer therapy. Recent advances in
nanotechnology have led to the development of various new agents, such as nanoparticles useful for
cancer imaging in multiple modalities, and nanoscale theragnostic agents suitable for simultaneous use
in cancer diagnosis as well as cancer therapy.
Keywords: Theragnostics; nanoparticles; cancer; imaging; pharmacodynamics; uptake; tumour
angiogenesis; quantum dots; tumour therapy.
