Targeted nanotechnology for cancer imaging.
Published
Journal Article (Review)
Targeted nanoparticle imaging agents provide many benefits and new opportunities to facilitate accurate diagnosis of cancer and significantly impact patient outcome. Due to the highly engineerable nature of nanotechnology, targeted nanoparticles exhibit significant advantages including increased contrast sensitivity, binding avidity and targeting specificity. Considering the various nanoparticle designs and their adjustable ability to target a specific site and generate detectable signals, nanoparticles can be optimally designed in terms of biophysical interactions (i.e., intravascular and interstitial transport) and biochemical interactions (i.e., targeting avidity towards cancer-related biomarkers) for site-specific detection of very distinct microenvironments. This review seeks to illustrate that the design of a nanoparticle dictates its in vivo journey and targeting of hard-to-reach cancer sites, facilitating early and accurate diagnosis and interrogation of the most aggressive forms of cancer. We will report various targeted nanoparticles for cancer imaging using X-ray computed tomography, ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear imaging and optical imaging. Finally, to realize the full potential of targeted nanotechnology for cancer imaging, we will describe the challenges and opportunities for the clinical translation and widespread adaptation of targeted nanoparticles imaging agents.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Toy, R; Bauer, L; Hoimes, C; Ghaghada, KB; Karathanasis, E
Published Date
- September 30, 2014
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 76 /
Start / End Page
- 79 - 97
PubMed ID
- 25116445
Pubmed Central ID
- 25116445
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1872-8294
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1016/j.addr.2014.08.002
Language
- eng
Conference Location
- Netherlands