The potential legacy of cancer nanotechnology: cellular selection

Overexpression of oncogenes or loss of tumour suppressors can transform a normal cell to a cancerous one, resulting in uncontrolled regulation of intracellular signalling pathways and immunity to stresses, which both pose therapeutic challenges. Conventional approaches to cancer therapy, although they are effective at killing cancer cells, may still fail due to inadequate biodistribution and unwanted side effects. Nanotechnology-based approaches provide a promising alternative, with the possibility of targeting cells at an early stage, during their transformation into cancer cells. This review considers techniques that specifically target those molecular changes, which begin in only a very small percentage of normal cells as they undergo transformation. These techniques are crucial for early-stage diagnosis and therapy.