Theranostic nanomedicine for cancer detection and treatment

• Main Authors: Zhen Fan, Peter P. Fu, Hongtao Yu, Paresh C. Ray
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2014-03-01
• Series: Journal of Food and Drug Analysis
• Subjects: Circulating tumor cell diagnosis; Combined therapy; Photothermal therapy; Selective cancer treatment; Theranostic nanomedicine
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1021949814000027

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the USA according to the American Cancer Society. In the past 5 years, “theranostic nanomedicine”, for both therapeutics and imaging, has shown to be “the right drug for the right patient at the right moment” to manage deadly cancers. This review article presents an overview of recent developments, mainly from the authors' laboratories, along with potential medical applications for theranostic nanomedicine including basic concepts and critical properties. Finally, we outline the future research direction and possible challenges for theranostic nanomedicine research.