Multifunctional Nanoparticles: Cost versus benefit of adding targeting and imaging capabilities

By Zhiliang Cheng, A. Zaki, J. Hui, V. Muzykantov, A. Tsourkas. Science, 2012

1,232 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems have been developed to improve the efficacy and reduce the systemic toxicity of a wide range of drugs. Although clinically approved nanoparticles have consistently shown value in reducing drug toxicity, their use has not always translated into improved clinical outcomes. This has led to the development of “multifunctional” nanoparticles, where additional capabilities like targeting and image contrast enhancement are added to the nanoparticles. However, additional functionality means additional synthetic steps and costs, more convoluted behavior and effects in vivo, and also greater regulatory hurdles. The trade-off between additional functionality and complexity is the subject of ongoing debate and the focus of this Review.

Subfields: Biomaterials, Biomedical Engineering, Pharmaceutical Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a9763ecfee6972a9b2b5a3baa82649bdae23ec8b

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Biomaterials

1. N. Bertrand
2. N. Kamaly
3. Xiaoyang Xu
4. Jun Wu
5. O. Farokhzad
6. R. Juliano

In Biomedical Engineering

1. N. Bertrand
2. Xiaoyang Xu
3. N. Kamaly
4. Jun Wu
5. O. Farokhzad
6. Priyanka Singh

In Pharmaceutical Science

1. N. Bertrand

Citations in the corpus

• The delivery of therapeutic oligonucleotides (2016, background): “Experience with targeting of antibodies and nanoparticles suggests that the key beneficial effect of targeting relates primarily to increased uptake at the cellular level rather than to overall changes in biodistribution (84,85).”
• Cancer nanotechnology: the impact of passive and active targeting in the era of modern cancer biology. (2014, background): “However, because of the large amount of investment involved in the development of therapeutic products, the probability of success, the prospective therapeutic impact and many other economic factors must be evaluated before choosing the target of interest [143].”
• Gold Nanoparticles in Diagnostics and Therapeutics for Human Cancer (2018, background): “Lastly, it is also worthwhile to reflect on whether the cost of synthesis would justify the underlying therapeutic capabilities of gold nanoparticles (concept discussed in general in [91]).”