Multifunctional anti-cancer nano-platforms are moving to clinical trials

Cancer management needs rapid, non-invasive diagnosis and tumour-specific therapeutics which is unfortunately lacking for most cancer types. Novel approaches for cancer management aim at providing customized therapy according to individual diagnoses, determined by gene expression profiling, in particular, targeting highly selective monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to single cancer cell antigens, in combination with highly cytotoxic drugs, thereby avoiding the unwanted side effects of conventional chemotherapy. Multifunctional nano-vectors that combine new and more powerful drugs and/or probes for diagnostic imaging with tumour surface-specific ligands/antibodies have been developed. These nano-vectors have displayed superior selective anti-tumour activity compared to antibodies or standard anti-cancer drugs/agents alone both in-vitro, and in preclinical and clinical models. Anti-cancer nano-platforms can significantly improve early cancer detection and ameliorate therapeutic strategies. In the immediate future nano-technology may enable the simultaneous early detection and selective inactivation of cancer cells before they develop into full blown tumours. © 2013 Bentham Science Publishers.