b2815 Tissue Engineering and Nanotheranostics “9.61x6.69”
228 Tissue Engineering and Nanotheranostics
number one killer. The highest incidence of cancer is lung cancer, fol
lowed by stomach cancer, liver cancer, esophageal cancer and colorectal
cancer.5,6 Although cancer prevention and control became one of the
most important issues Chinese government carried out all over China,
there was no significant decrease in cancer mortality in the short
term.7,8 In developed western countries, such as the United States,
Britain and other countries, cancer mortality too failed to significantly
decline.9,10 Thus, there is a pressing need to develop novel and effective
treatments and approaches that will enhance the survival rates.
Up to now, chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy are the first
choice of cancer treatment in clinical practices. Although successful in
reducing deaths directly related to cancer, unfortunately, their out
come has still been very pessimistic. Furthermore, these modalities
can yield many sideeffects, such as body weight loss resulting from
oral intake disturbance, systemic toxicity and a destructive “bystander”
effect to neighboring cells.11–13 The main reason is that poor pharma
cokinetic profiles and nonspecific mechanisms of action by chemo
therapeutics cause poor biodistribution in the diseased cells of
interest, which results in the need for higher and continuous dosages
to provide effective treatment.^14 This will inevitably further increase
the patient’s side reaction. Extensive resection is the best choice of
cancer therapy, but such trials must be weighed against the potential
survival benefits. Radiation therapy is limited in scope, and accompa
nied by severe adverse reactions.
In the last 20 years, nanotechnology has been developed rap
idly.15–17 The nanomaterials with different morphologies and func
tions have been widely reported.18–20 Among them, the novel
nanomaterials designed and used for drug delivery, cancer treatment
and diagnosis draw particular attention.21–27 A large number of animal
experiments showed that the systemic toxicity of chemotherapeutic
agents was greatly reduced, and the effect of chemotherapy was
improved through the drug delivery system of nanomaterials.28–30 The
early diagnosis of cancer is gradually realized using the diagnostic
nanomaterials.31–37 However, there is still a gap between clinical appli
cations. These therapeuticloaded nanoparticles with poor tumor
targeting and single function have revealed limited durable success
