ABSTRACT
The therapeutic benefits provided by nanomedicine encompass all the different stages of detection, prevention, treatment, and monitoring of a variety of medical conditions, with a considerable fraction of the applications devoted to cancer. Nanomaterials in medicine are used as smart driver and carriers to combine several properties in one single unit. This chapter explores the therapeutic benefits that are sought and achieved by these applications. Initially, it establishes some common working definition for nanoparticles and their properties. The chapter analyzes the interaction of nanoparticles with biological processes or entities as this drives both its benefit but also its potential toxicity. It presents specific examples of commercially and clinically relevant nanoparticles (with a critical assessment of why so few others followed the same path).
