Lipid-Based Nanoparticles in Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy

Today, researchers are constantly developing new nanomaterials, nanodevices, and nanoparticles to meet unmet needs in the delivery of therapeutic agents and imaging agents for cancer therapy and diagnosis, respectively. Of particular interest here are lipid-based nanoparticles (LNPs) that are genuine particles (approximately 100？nm in dimension) assembled from varieties of lipid and other chemical components that act collectively to overcome biological barriers (biobarriers), in order for LNPs to preferentially accumulate in or around disease-target cells for the functional delivery of therapeutic agents for treatment or of imaging agents for diagnosis. The capabilities of these LNPs will clearly vary depending on functional requirements, but the nanoscale allows for an impressive level of diversity in capabilities to enable corresponding LNPs to address an equally diverse range of functional requirements. Accordingly, LNPs should be considered appropriate vehicles to provide an integrated, personalized approach to cancer diagnosis and therapy in future cancer disease management. 1. Introduction Unmet medical needs in cancer diagnosis and therapy remain substantial in spite of decades of research. On the other hand, there are substantial numbers of potentially potent therapeutic agents available (both biopharmaceutical and small molecule drug related) that are either too large in size, too highly charged, too metabolically unstable, and/or too insoluble to reach cancer target cells without the assistance of delivery “vehicles.” Nowadays, this situation is seen to be an opportunity for cancer nanotechnology, a field that seeks to take a multidisciplinary, problem-driven approach to research that cuts across the traditional boundaries of biology, chemistry, engineering, and medicine with the aim of using nanotechnology to bring about major advances in cancer detection, diagnosis, and treatment [1–4]. In particular cancer nanotechnology could leverage an opening up of 1000s of new potential disease targets for therapeutic intervention by enabling the functional delivery of new classes of therapeutic agents to target cells. Following this there is the eventual likelihood that cancer nanotechnology could also open up opportunities for personalised cancer diagnosis and treatment regimes [3], by means of multifunctional nanoparticles for (a) the detection of cancer disease-specific biomarkers, (b) the imaging of tumours and their metastases, (c) the functional delivery of therapeutic agents to target cells, and (d) the real-time monitoring of treatment in