ABSTRACT
There is increasing optimism that nanotechnology, as applied to medicine, will bring signicant advances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. The advent of nanotechnology has enabled the precise manufacture of materials with desirable properties and the removal of undesirable features. Anticipated applications in medicine include drug delivery, both in vitro and in vivo diagnostics, nutraceuticals and production of improved biocompatible materials. One of the most signicant challenges facing the treatment of diseases is early intervention to deliver specic therapeutic cargo efciently into cells to alter gene expression and subsequent protein production. Recent advances in nanotechnology have been used to deliver such cargoes into single cells through the use of nanoparticles for imaging, diagnostics, and therapeutics. For example, the gold and silver nanoparticles coated with antibodies can regulate the process of membrane receptor internalization. This binding and activation of membrane receptors, and the subsequent protein expression, is strongly dependent on nanoparticle size [1].
