ABSTRACT
Cancer Institute states, nanotechnology offers the unprecedented opportunity of studying normal and cancer cells in real time, at molecular and cellular scales, and during the earliest stages of the cancer process. Metallic nanoparticles such as gold (Au) particles or Au nanoshells, oxides such as superparamagnetic nanoparticles, and organic nanoparticles such as carbon nanotubes are the most important examples in biomedical nanotechnology approach. The biomedical nanotechnology approach can be really useful in cancer therapy at three different stages of the tumoural process: early detection, imaging and therapeutic treatment of tumours. Nanotechnology can also be used to induce cellular damage to a specific target by exploiting the characteristics of the nanoparticles themselves. A very interesting application of carbon nanotubes in cancer therapy can arise from their intrinsic optical properties. A specific branch of biosensors is constituted by immunobiosensors: the traditional techniques for protein detections are enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, radioimmunoassay and electrophoretic immunoassay.
