IONPs-Based Medical Imaging in Cancer Care: Moving Beyond Traditional Diagnosis and Therapeutic Assessment

Abstract

Xiaolin Yan, Shanshan Li, Haiyin Yan, Chungang Yu, Fengxi Liu Department of Clinical Pharmacy, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong Engineering and Technology Research Center for Pediatric Drug Development, Shandong Medicine and Health Key Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacy, Jinan, Shandong Province, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Fengxi Liu, Tel [phone], Email [email protected]: Cancer-related burden of morbidity and mortality is rapidly rising worldwide. Medical imaging plays an important role in every phase of cancer management, including diagnosis, staging, treatment planning and evaluation. Iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) could serve as contrast agents or labeling agents to enhance the identification and visualization of pathological tissues as well as target cells. Multimodal or multifunctional imaging can be easily acquired by modifying IONPs with other imaging agents or functional groups, allowing the accessibility of combined imaging techniques and providing more comprehensive information for cancer care. To date, IONPs-enhanced medical imaging has gained intensive application in early diagnosis, monitoring treatment as well as guiding radio-frequency ablation, sentinel lymph node dissection, radiotherapy and hyperthermia therapy. Besides, IONPs mediated imaging is also capable of promoting the development of anti-cancer nanomedicines through identifying patients potentially sensitive to nanotherapeutics. Based on versatile imaging modes and application fields, this review highlights and summarizes recent research advances of IONPs-based medical imaging in cancer management. Besides, currently existing challenges are also discussed to provide perspectives and advices for the future development of IONPs-based imaging in cancer management.Keywords: iron oxide nanoparticles, medical imaging, early diagnosis, treatment evaluation, personalized treatment

Keywords

• iron oxide nanoparticles
• medical imaging
• early diagnosis
• treatment evaluation
• personalized treatment