Department of Pharmacology, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research Puducherry, Dhanvantari Nagar, Puducherry 605 006, India.
Indian J Med Res. 2009 Dec;130(6):689-701.
Current modalities of diagnosis and treatment of various diseases, especially cancer have major limitations such as poor sensitivity or specificity and drug toxicities respectively. Newer and improved methods of cancer detection based on nanoparticles are being developed. They are used as contrast agents, fluorescent materials, molecular research tools and drugs with targeting antibodies. Paramagnetic nanoparticles, quantum dots, nanoshells and nanosomes are few of the nanoparticles used for diagnostic purposes. Drugs with high toxic potential like cancer chemotherapeutic drugs can be given with a better safety profile with the utility of nanotechnology. These can be made to act specifically at the target tissue by active as well as passive means. Other modalities of therapy such as heat induced ablation of cancer cells by nanoshells and gene therapy are also being developed. This review discusses the various platforms of nanotechnology being used in different aspects of medicine like diagnostics and therapeutics. The potential toxicities of the nanoparticles are also described in addition to hypothetical designs such as respirocytes and microbivores. The safety of nanomedicine is not yet fully defined. However, it is possible that nanomedicine in future would play a crucial role in the treatment of human diseases and also in enhancement of normal human physiology.
目前各种疾病的诊断和治疗方式，尤其是癌症的治疗方式都存在着较大的局限性，如灵敏度或特异性差和药物毒性等。基于纳米颗粒的癌症检测新技术和改进方法正在被开发。纳米颗粒可用作对比剂、荧光材料、分子研究工具和靶向抗体药物。超顺磁纳米颗粒、量子点、纳米壳和纳米囊是几种用于诊断目的的纳米颗粒。纳米技术的应用可以提高某些具有高毒性的药物（如癌症化疗药物）的安全性，使这些药物能够通过主动和被动手段特异性地作用于目标组织。其他治疗方式，如纳米壳诱导癌细胞热消融和基因治疗等也在发展中。本文综述了纳米技术的各种应用平台，包括诊断和治疗等医学领域。除了假设性设计（如 respirocytes 和 microbivores）外，本文还描述了纳米颗粒的潜在毒性。纳米医学的安全性尚未完全确定。然而，纳米医学有可能在未来在治疗人类疾病和增强正常人体生理机能方面发挥关键作用。
