Cancer is a leading pathology accounting for more than 17 million new cases and 10 million deaths worldwide in 2020. In the next 20 years, the global burden is expected to increase to 27.5 and 16.3 million new cases and deaths, respectively, because of population growth and the rise of the aging population. Oncological therapies generally involve topical or parenteral administration of very toxic drugs which can cause undesirable side effects with high impact on patient quality of life and severe patient discomfort. In the last decades, the emergence of cancer drug-resistance requires the use of at least of two drugs to provide an efficient treatment. However, only a few oncologic formulations are available in the market to reduce drug toxicity and extended half-life in the body, providing established molecular kinetic release and combining safer therapies with diagnostics (i.e., theragnostic).
The exponential growth of nanotechnology during the last decades, including nanofabrication and the development of potent instrumental tools, has enabled the development of novel platforms and strategies for cancer diagnostic and therapeutic applications, with a potential improvement of clinical therapeutics. Recent developments of nanotechnology for the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer show great promise for reducing severe drug side effects while maintaining high therapeutic efficiency.
This Collection calls for papers on all topics related to nanotechnology and the treatment of human cancer, from instrumental tools and nanofabrication to clinical applications of extant nanotechnologies.
Professor Guillermo Castro is a Top Researcher of the National Research Council for Science and Technology (CONICET, Argentina) and Full Professor at the Federal University of ABC, Sao Paulo, Brazil. He is affiliated with both the Nanomedicine Nucleus at Federal University of ABC and the Nanotechnology Area of the Max Planck Laboratory for Structural Biology, Chemistry, and Molecular Biophysics of Rosario. Previously, he received his M.Sc. and PhD. from University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then held postdoctoral positions at MIT and Tufts University (USA). He also taught at Tufts University and was a Full Professor at National University of La Plata (Argentina).
