Page - (000394) - in Biomedical Chemistry: Current Trends and Developments

tumor site and, at the same time, track the drug payloads delivered to the tumour site. In addition, the conjugation of a drug molecule to nanoparticles allowed for a higher amount of drug cargo to be delivered, leading to a more effective therapeutic outcome and, again, decreasing the associated toxicity of the anticancer drug to healthy tissues (Ansari, 2014). PSi nanomaterials are other example of materials that have been proven to be biocompatible and possess remarkable features for biomedical applications, including imaging and drug delivery (Liu, 2013b; Santos, 2013b; Shahbazi, 2012). Besides the vast medical applications (Park, 2009; Santos, 2014; Shahbazi, 2012), and taking into account a special property of this material, its photoluminescence (Anglin, 2008; Hua, 2005), PSi has been explored for clinical diagnosis and imaging applications (Godin, 2011; Santos, 2013a), such as acting as a self-reporting drug delivery systems using optical imaging in living animals (Cheng, 2008), multicolor near infrared imaging in live mice (Erogbogbo, 2010), incorporation of gadolidium (Ananta, 2010) and SPIONs inside the nanoporous structure for MRI applications (Kinsella, 2011), as well as radiolabeling of PSi with radioisotopes for imaging purposes (Bimbo, 2010; Sarparanta, 2012). Liposomal formulations have also been used as theranostic nanoplatforms for both cancer therapeutics and imaging, considering its safety and wide clinical use. Recent studies included the encapsulation of Magnevist, a contrast agent for MRI with in vivo contrast-enhancing effects into liposomes, which showed, together with doxorubicin, an improved biocompatibility when coated with hyaluronic acid ceramide polymer, aimed for targeted imaging and drug delivery (Park, 2014). SPIONs have been successfully encapsulated inside immuno-liposomes targeting endothelial cells in tumor vasculature and applied in MRI imaging (Zhang, 2014a). Multimodal fluorescent labeled liposomes with thermo-responsive release properties of the contrast agents are some of the more advanced imaging platforms fabricated so far (Kokuryo, 2014), and together with near infrared (NIR) fluorescent dyes, have been similarly loaded inside theranostic liposomes with improved label efficiency (Xie, 2014).