ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews both bio-inspired and synthetic nanoparticle functionalities that have been used in cancer therapy and addresses both efforts and opportunities to combine these into multifunctional devices. The use of nanoparticles in cancer therapy is attractive for several reasons: they exhibit unique pharmacokinetics, including minimal renal filtration; they have high surface-to-volume ratios enabling modification with various surface functional groups that home, internalize, or stabilize; and they may be constructed from a wide range of materials used to encapsulate or solubilize therapeutic agents for drug delivery. The topology of a nanoparticle—core, coating, and surface functional groups—makes it particularly amenable to modular design, whereby features and functional moieties may be interchanged or combined. Although many functionalities of nanoparticles have been demonstrated, including some clinically approved drug formulations and imaging agents, the consolidation of these into multifunctional nanoparticles capable of targeting, imaging, and delivering therapeutics is an exciting area of research that holds great promise for cancer therapy.
