Introduction of cancer
Cancer is a disease in which a part of the body’s cells grow in an uncontrolled manner and slowly spread to other parts of the body – nanotechnology. Any part of the human body can be impacted by cancer growth. The normal process of cell division for cell growth and the formation of new cells as the body needs them are affected by cancer. A person suffering from cancer has abnormal or damaged cell growth and they multiply when they shouldn’t, resulting in the formation of tumors.
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the science and technology of controlling matter at the molecular level. It can provide technical tools and control to enable scientists the development of new diagnostics, therapeutics, and prevention of cancer. Currently, we are lagging in the ability to turn promising molecular discoveries into cancer treatment for patients’ benefit. Nanotechnology can revolutionize how we diagnose and treat cancer.
Nanoscale devices are hundred and thousands of times smaller than human cells. There is a similarity between nanoscale devices and large biological molecules or biomolecules such as enzymes and receptors. During the earliest phases of malignant growth movement, nanotechnology furnishes analysts with the apparatus to study and they can control macromolecules continuously.
Cancer-related molecules can be detected using nanotechnology, which provides rapid and sensitive detection. Entirely novel and highly effective therapeutic agents can be created using nanotechnology. Researchers expect to accomplish to have the option to convey malignant growth sedates really and accomplish high aggregation in disease cancers and leave the encompassing solid tissues unaffected.
Benefits of nanotechnology for cancer patients
Passive Tumor Accumulation
The effective way of delivery of cancer drugs needs to be highly accumulated in the tumor and leave the surrounding healthy tissues unaffected. Many drugs and drug carriers are passively localized due to their extravasation through porous vasculature named Enhanced Permeability and Retention ( EPR) effect works very well for tumors. The process of using the EPR effect for passive tumor-targeting drug delivery is not without problems. It can only be used for solid tumors treatment.
Active Tumor Targeting
Nanoparticle drug cell’s internalization is required for some of the treatment of cancer types where drug needs to reach within other cell’s nucleus and EPR method does not allow to do that. For these reasons, active tumor targeting is considered an important feature for next-generation nanoparticle therapeutics. It will allow other methods than EPR to achieve great results and effective treatment of other modalities in cancer treatment.
Transport across Tissue Barriers
Nanoparticle or nano-drug delivery is disturbed by tissue barriers before the nanoscale drugs can reach the tumor site. It is essential to develop and design nanoparticles and strategies to overcome these tissue barriers and increase the efficiency of cancer treatment. There are several types of drug delivery methods used to overcome these barriers. Some of them are BBB blood-brain barrier, ECM extracellular matrix and TME tumor microenvironment, etc.