Abstract

Cancer nanotechnology is a multidisciplinary research area in which science, engineering and medicine embrace each other to actualize the application of nanotechnology in molecular imaging, molecular diagnosis, and targeted therapy of cancer. Nanometer-sized particles such as semiconductor quantum dots, iron oxide nanocrystals and colloidal gold have unique optical, magnetic and physical properties. The surface of these nanoparticles can be conveniently functionalized to conjugate monoclonal antibodies, peptides, aptamers and small molecules, and the resulting nanoscale conjugates can be used for targeted cancer imaging and targeted cancer therapy. Recent advances in nanotechnology have led to the development of various new agents, such as nanoparticles useful for cancer imaging in multiple modalities, and nanoscale theragnostic agents suitable for simultaneous use in cancer diagnosis as well as cancer therapy.