Targeted nanotherapeutics in cancer

Farooq A Shiekh

Avalon University School of Medicine, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles

Cancer is not one, but many heterogeneous diseases¹ with complex genetic and epigenetic alterations^2,3 that annually afflict millions of people worldwide. Despite the progress in understanding the molecular mechanics of cancer,⁴ its treatment has remained essentially unchanged and the death rates almost remain as they were 6 decades ago.^5,6 In the past, the outstanding failure to deliver effective treatment to patients was a result of the inability to get enough of the right drug to the right place; however, the scenario has started to change substantially with the advent of new "targeted" cancer therapies.^7–10

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