Noble Metal Nanoparticles Applications in Cancer

TLDR

Nanotechnology offers new materials for biomedical use, and in cancer therapy nanoparticles are sought for their small size and ability to target tumor cells more specifically than conventional treatments, thereby reducing systemic toxicity. This review surveys noble metal nanoparticles that are already progressing toward clinical application in cancer treatment. The authors examine how functionalized noble metal nanoparticles are employed in imaging, thermal ablation, radiotherapy enhancement, and drug or gene delivery and silencing.

Abstract

Nanotechnology has prompted new and improved materials for biomedical applications with particular emphasis in therapy and diagnostics. Special interest has been directed at providing enhanced molecular therapeutics for cancer, where conventional approaches do not effectively differentiate between cancerous and normal cells; that is, they lack specificity. This normally causes systemic toxicity and severe and adverse side effects with concomitant loss of quality of life. Because of their small size, nanoparticles can readily interact with biomolecules both at surface and inside cells, yielding better signals and target specificity for diagnostics and therapeutics. This way, a variety of nanoparticles with the possibility of diversified modification with biomolecules have been investigated for biomedical applications including their use in highly sensitive imaging assays, thermal ablation, and radiotherapy enhancement as well as drug and gene delivery and silencing. Here, we review the available noble metal nanoparticles for cancer therapy, with particular focus on those already being translated into clinical settings.