Overview on nanotechnology and angiogenesis in major diseases processes

Abstract

Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing vasculature, plays an important role in physiological and pathological conditions. For this reason, the study of different anti-angiogenic drugs and its improvement is spread around the world. Nanotechnology gives novel opportunities to the development of new drugs. Based on nanosized systems, nanotechnology applied in medicine can improve the diagnosis and the treatment of the great majority of diseases. Nanomedicine has been applied in diagnosis, imaging and in drug delivery systems. Specifically in angiogenesis, researchers have developed new angiogenesis targeted nanosystems and have demonstrated that they can improve the diagnosis and the treatment of different diseases in areas like oncology, cardiology and ophthalmology. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.