%0 Journal Article
%T Advances in the field of nanooncology
%A KK Jain
%J BMC Medicine
%D 2010
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1741-7015-8-83
%X Nanotechnology is the creation and utilization of materials, devices and systems through the control of matter on the nanometer-length scale, that is, at the level of atoms, molecules and supramolecular structures. Given the inherent nanoscale functional components of living cells, it was inevitable that nanotechnology would be applied in biotechnology settings, giving rise to the term nanobiotechnology, that is, the application of nanotechnology in the life sciences. Nanobiotechnology is already starting to show the promise of an impact on health care. Nanomedicine is defined as the application of nanobiotechnology to medicine and is based on the use of nanoscale materials and devices for diagnosis and drug delivery as well as for the development of advanced pharmaceuticals referred to as nanopharmaceuticals [1]. Nanobiotechnology is also being applied to refine surgery from microsurgery to nanosurgery. Examples include the construction of nanoscale robots, nanobots, for navigating the human body to detect as well as treat various diseases, and cell surgery using nanodevices and nanolasers. During the past few years, considerable progress has been made in the application of nanobiotechnology in cancer, that is, nanooncology, which is currently the most important chapter of nanomedicine.Nanobiotechnology plays an important role in the discovery of biomarkers of cancer. Several drugs in development for cancer are based on nanobiotechnology, and a few of these are already approved. Nanobiotechnology-based devices are in development as aids to cancer surgery. Finally, nanobiotechnology is playing an important role in personalized therapy for cancer. The impact of nanobiotechnology on oncology is shown schematically in Figure 1.Nanobiotechnologies have extended the limits of and refined molecular diagnostics [2]. Nanobiotechnology offers a novel set of tools for the detection of cancer and contributes to early detection of cancer as follows:1. It can complement existing
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/8/83