ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the progress in the development of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-traceable drug nanocarriers for cancer theranostics. The development of SERS nanotags has spawned new opportunities for a wide range of applications in oncology, such as traceable drug delivery in cancer therapy for image-guided therapy, indirect and highly sensitive detection of cancer biomarkers for early cancer diagnostic, etc. A multi-wavelength responsive high-sensitivity SERS nanotag based on chitosan-coated silver nanotriangles labeled with para-aminothiophenol has been also reported in group. In addition to preventing nanoparticle aggregation, the chitosan layer demonstrated its role in conferring biocompatibility to the silver nanoparticles toward lung cancer cells without interfering with cell proliferation. The combination of therapy and diagnosis, also termed theranostics, has shown immense potential in anti-cancer therapies, still dealing with major problems such as inability to deliver sufficient dose of drugs in a controlled manner, lack of specificity, undesired side effects, etc.
