Sanvicens Nuria, Marco M Pilar
Applied Molecular Receptors Group (AMRg), CSIC Networking Research Center of Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), Jorge Girona, 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
Trends Biotechnol. 2008 Aug;26(8):425-33. doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2008.04.005.
A major aim of medicine has long been the early and accurate diagnosis of clinical conditions, providing an efficient treatment without secondary effects. With the emergence of nanotechnology, the achievement of this goal seems closer than ever. To this end, the development of novel materials and devices operating at the nanoscale range, such as nanoparticles, provides new and powerful tools for imaging, diagnosis and therapy. This review focuses on the significant improvements in performance that nanoparticles offer compared with existing technologies relevant to medicine. Specifically, we address the design of multifunctional nanoparticles as an alternative system for drug and gene delivery, which has great potential for therapy in areas, such as cancer and neuropathologies. Moreover, we discuss the controversy generated by the possible toxic health effects of nanoparticles.
长期以来，医学的一个主要目标是对临床病症进行早期准确诊断，提供有效治疗且无副作用。随着纳米技术的出现，实现这一目标似乎比以往任何时候都更近了。为此，在纳米尺度范围内运行的新型材料和设备（如纳米颗粒）的开发，为成像、诊断和治疗提供了新的强大工具。本综述重点关注纳米颗粒与现有医学相关技术相比在性能上的显著提升。具体而言，我们探讨了多功能纳米颗粒作为药物和基因递送替代系统的设计，该系统在癌症和神经病理学等领域具有巨大的治疗潜力。此外，我们还讨论了纳米颗粒可能对健康产生的毒性影响所引发的争议。
