Nanoparticles and cancer therapy: A concise review with emphasis on dendrimers

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Authors: Dhruba J Bharali, Marianne Khalil, Mujgan Gurbuz, Tessa M Simone, Shaker A Mousa

Published Date January 2009 , Volume 2009:4 Pages 1 - 7 DOI 10.2147/IJN.S4241

Dhruba J Bharali, Marianne Khalil, Mujgan Gurbuz, Tessa M Simone, Shaker A Mousa

Pharmaceutical Research Institute at Albany College of Pharmacy, Rensselaer, NY, USA

Abstract: The emergence of nanotechnology has had a profound effect on many areas of healthcare and scientific research. Having grown exponentially, the focus of nanotechnology has been on engineering diversified novel applications that even go beyond therapeutic activity; nanotechnology also offers the ability to detect diseases, such as cancer, much earlier than ever imaginable. Often, patients diagnosed with breast, lung, colon, prostate, and ovarian cancer have hidden or overt metastatic colonies. With the advent of diagnostic nanotechnology, these numbers are expected to greatly diminish. This review provides a brief description of nanoparticle (liposome, quantum dot, and dendrimer)-mediated cancer therapy in the last decade with an emphasis on the development and use of dendrimers in cancer therapeutics.

Keywords: nanoparticles, dendrimer, quantum dots, liposome

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