Singh Ragini, Sharma Ayush, Saji Joel, Umapathi Akhela, Kumar Santosh, Daima Hemant Kumar
College of Agronomy, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, 252059, Shandong, China.
Amity Center for Nanobiotechnology and Nanomedicine (ACNN), Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Rajasthan, Jaipur, 303002, Rajasthan, India.
Nano Converg. 2022 May 15;9(1):21. doi: 10.1186/s40580-022-00313-x.
Innovations in nanomedicine has guided the improved outcomes for cancer diagnosis and therapy. However, frequent use of nanomaterials remains challenging due to specific limitations like non-targeted distribution causing low signal-to-noise ratio for diagnostics, complex fabrication, reduced-biocompatibility, decreased photostability, and systemic toxicity of nanomaterials within the body. Thus, better nanomaterial-systems with controlled physicochemical and biological properties, form the need of the hour. In this context, smart nanomaterials serve as promising solution, as they can be activated under specific exogenous or endogenous stimuli such as pH, temperature, enzymes, or a particular biological molecule. The properties of smart nanomaterials make them ideal candidates for various applications like biosensors, controlled drug release, and treatment of various diseases. Recently, smart nanomaterial-based cancer theranostic approaches have been developed, and they are displaying better selectivity and sensitivity with reduced side-effects in comparison to conventional methods. In cancer therapy, the smart nanomaterials-system only activates in response to tumor microenvironment (TME) and remains in deactivated state in normal cells, which further reduces the side-effects and systemic toxicities. Thus, the present review aims to describe the stimulus-based classification of smart nanomaterials, tumor microenvironment-responsive behaviour, and their up-to-date applications in cancer theranostics. Besides, present review addresses the development of various smart nanomaterials and their advantages for diagnosing and treating cancer. Here, we also discuss about the drug targeting and sustained drug release from nanocarriers, and different types of nanomaterials which have been engineered for this intent. Additionally, the present challenges and prospects of nanomaterials in effective cancer diagnosis and therapeutics have been discussed.
纳米医学的创新推动了癌症诊断和治疗效果的改善。然而，由于存在一些特定限制，纳米材料的频繁使用仍然具有挑战性，这些限制包括非靶向分布导致诊断时信噪比低、制造复杂、生物相容性降低、光稳定性下降以及纳米材料在体内的全身毒性。因此，需要具有可控物理化学和生物学特性的更好的纳米材料系统。在这种背景下，智能纳米材料是一种很有前景的解决方案，因为它们可以在特定的外源性或内源性刺激（如pH值、温度、酶或特定生物分子）下被激活。智能纳米材料的特性使其成为生物传感器、控释药物以及各种疾病治疗等各种应用的理想候选材料。最近，基于智能纳米材料的癌症诊疗方法已经得到开发，与传统方法相比，它们显示出更好的选择性和敏感性，且副作用更小。在癌症治疗中，智能纳米材料系统仅在肿瘤微环境（TME）的响应下被激活，而在正常细胞中保持失活状态，这进一步降低了副作用和全身毒性。因此，本综述旨在描述智能纳米材料基于刺激的分类、肿瘤微环境响应行为及其在癌症诊疗中的最新应用。此外，本综述还阐述了各种智能纳米材料的开发及其在癌症诊断和治疗方面的优势。在此，我们还讨论了纳米载体的药物靶向和药物持续释放，以及为此目的设计的不同类型的纳米材料。此外，还讨论了纳米材料在有效癌症诊断和治疗方面目前面临的挑战和前景。
