Introduction: Benefits and Challenges for Multifunctional Nanoparticles in Medicine

Abstract

The US National Institutes of Health through the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has been charged with the goal of eliminating death and suffering from cancer by the year 2015. In order to achieve this very ambitious goal, the development of novel nanotechnology-based devices and therapeutics are envisioned that are capable of one or more clinically important functions, including detecting cancer at its earliest stages, pinpointing its location within the body, delivering anticancer drugs specifically to malignant cells, and determining if these drugs are killing malignant cells. The Cancer Nanotechnology Plan developed by the NCI has identified six major challenge areas, including “Multifunctional Therapeutics,” that is, nanoscale devices that integrate diagnostic and therapeutic functions, target properties, and control the spatial and temporal release of therapeutic agents while monitoring the effectiveness of these agents [1].