Advanced nanoformulations for targeting, imaging, and therapy

Advanced multifunction nanomedicines and nanotheranostics are one of the fastest-growing fields of smart pharmaceuticals, which have raised great hopes for the detection and treatment of detrimental diseases such as malignancies. These types of advanced medicines can combine the instantaneous diagnosis and therapy advantages in a single nanoscale modality. Having used various types of advanced nanomaterials and biomaterials, they have further progressed with interesting prospects. Advanced nanotheranostics can simultaneously deliver both imaging and drug molecules to the target sites, provide real-time targeting and imaging, release drug molecules on demand, and monitor the biological response. Such specific and targeted delivery can provide maximum therapeutic impacts with insignificant side effects and decreased required doses. Particularly, polymeric nanomaterials have extensively been utilized as the vehicle for the delivery of therapeutic and imaging agents. They can be further functionalized with the different moieties such as targeting agents and radionuclides, proposing great promise for engineering the multifunctional nanotheranostics. The main aim of this chapter is to delineate the recent advances in nanotheranostics and discuss inorganic nanoparticles and polymeric nanotheranostics and their applications in cancer research.