Theranostics 2012; 2(1):3-44. doi:10.7150/thno.3463 This issue Cite
Review
Cell Dynamics Research Center, School of Life Sciences, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, 261 Chemdangwagi-ro, Gwangju 500-712, Republic of Korea.
Nanomaterials offer new opportunities for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Multifunctional nanoparticles harboring various functions including targeting, imaging, therapy, and etc have been intensively studied aiming to overcome limitations associated with conventional cancer diagnosis and therapy. Of various nanoparticles, magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles with superparamagnetic property have shown potential as multifunctional nanoparticles for clinical translation because they have been used asmagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) constrast agents in clinic and their features could be easily tailored by including targeting moieties, fluorescence dyes, or therapeutic agents. This review summarizes targeting strategies for construction of multifunctional nanoparticles including magnetic nanoparticles-based theranostic systems, and the various surface engineering strategies of nanoparticles for in vivo applications.
Keywords: Multifunctional nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles, targeting ligand, bioconjugation, surface engineering, long circulation