Clinical applications of nanotechnology to cancer diagnostics and therapeutics

Nanotechnology offers exciting prospects for wide-ranging advances in nearly all aspects of clinical oncology. A rapidly growing armamentarium of nanomaterials and devices such as quantum dots, nanoshells, liposomes, nanocantilever, and nanowires show promise to expand our capabilities for early detection and accurate staging of malignancies, effective targeting of diverse treatment modalities, and monitoring for treatment response. Areas of particular interest to the practice of oncology include improvements in tumor imaging, increased specificity in therapy delivery systems, and the ability to assess cancer biomarkers at low concentrations. Nanoscale devices with multifunctional capabilities are also of value, which would provide options for combining diagnostics with targeted anticancer treatment.