Targeted nanotherapeutics in cancer

Abstract

Farooq A ShiekhAvalon University School of Medicine, Curaçao, Netherlands AntillesCancer is not one, but many heterogeneous diseases1 with complex genetic and epigenetic alterations2,3 that annually afflict millions of people worldwide. Despite the progress in understanding the molecular mechanics of cancer,4 its treatment has remained essentially unchanged and the death rates almost remain as they were 6 decades ago.5,6 In the past, the outstanding failure to deliver effective treatment to patients was a result of the inability to get enough of the right drug to the right place; however, the scenario has started to change substantially with the advent of new "targeted" cancer therapies.7–10