ABSTRACT
Cancer is one of the most lethal diseases, and breast cancer ranks as the second leading cause of cancer-related death among women. Every year, more than 1 million women are diagnosed as having breast cancer worldwide. The mortality rate of cancer has been increasing signicantly, with a projection of approximately 12 million deaths in 2030. Although cancer therapy using conventional methods such as surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy has saved millions of lives around the world, the rate of mortality still drastically increases because of the nonspecic actions and side effects attributed to such methods. This can be overcome by the recent advancements in nanotechnology, which help transform cancer therapeutics to a new dimension. Nanomedicine is one of the most rapidly growing biomedical research elds in the 21st century, which gives rise to new possibilities in the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer. Nanomaterials with increased surface properties and tunable size and shape
4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 102 4.2 Basics of Breast Cancer Biology................................................................... 104 4.3 Nanocarrier Systems ..................................................................................... 106
4.3.1 Metallic Nanocarriers ....................................................................... 106 4.3.2 Polymeric Nanocarriers .................................................................... 113 4.3.3 Ceramic Nanocarriers ....................................................................... 117 4.3.4 CNT-Based Nanocarriers ................................................................. 117 4.3.5 Nanober-Based Nanocarriers ......................................................... 118 4.3.6 Nanogel-Based Nanocarriers ............................................................ 119 4.3.7 Quantum Dots ................................................................................... 119 4.3.8 Protein Nanocarriers ......................................................................... 121
4.4 Alternative Therapeutic Strategies ............................................................... 122 4.5 Conclusion ....................................................................................................124 Acknowledgments ..................................................................................................124 References ..............................................................................................................124
