Page - 5 - in Cancer Nanotheranostics - What Have We Learnd So Far?

EDITORIAL published:06January2016 doi: 10.3389/fchem.2015.00071 Frontiers inChemistry |www.frontiersin.org January2016 |Volume3 |Article71 Editedandreviewedby: GilGarnier, BioresourceProcessingResearch InstituteofAustralia,Australia *Correspondence: JoãoConde jdconde@mit.edu; conde.bio@gmail.com Specialtysection: Thisarticlewassubmitted to Chemical Engineering, asectionof the journal Frontiers inChemistry Received:03November2015 Accepted:15December2015 Published:06January2016 Citation: CondeJ,TianF,de laFuenteJMand BaptistaPV (2016)Editorial:Cancer Nanotheranostics:WhatHaveWe LearnedSoFar?Front.Chem.3:71. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2015.00071 Editorial:CancerNanotheranostics: WhatHaveWeLearnedSoFar? JoãoConde1,2*, FurongTian3, JesusM.de laFuente4andPedroV.Baptista5 1Harvard-MITDivision forHealthSciencesandTechnology, Institute forMedical EngineeringandScience,Massachusetts InstituteofTechnology,Cambridge,MA,USA, 2School ofEngineeringandMaterialsScience,QueenMaryUniversityof London,London,UK, 3Schoolof FoodScienceandEnvironmentalHealth,CollegeofSciencesandHealth,Dublin Institute ofTechnology,Dublin, Ireland, 4 InstitutodeCienciadeMaterialesdeAragón,ConsejoSuperiorde Investigaciones Científicas/UniversidaddeZaragoza,Zaragoza,Spain, 5ResearchUnit onAppliedMolecularBiosciences (UCIBIO), DepartamentodeCiênciasdaVida, FaculdadedeCiênciaseTecnologia,UniversidadeNovadeLisboa,Lisboa,Portugal Keywords:oncology,cancer,nanotechnology,nanotheranostics,nanomaterials,nanoparticles TheEditorialontheResearchTopic CancerNanotheranostics:WhatHaveWeLearnedSoFar? Accordingto theNationalCancer Institute, in2015anestimatedof1.7millionnewcasesofcancer will be diagnosedonly in theUnited States and around600,000peoplewill die from thedisease. Themost common typeof cancer is breast cancer,withmore than234,000newcases expected in theUnitedStates in2015.Thenextmostcommoncancersareprostatecancerandlungcancer. Afteraquarterofcenturyofrapidtechnologicaladvances, researchhasrevealedthecomplexity of cancer, a disease intimately related to the dynamic transformation of the genome. These transformations triggera rangeofmodification tocellprocessesandmolecularevents that initiate andpromote tumorgenesisandprogression, then local invasionandmetastasis, i.e., thehallmarks of cancer development. These alterationsmay cause awide scope of “diseases” that share similar molecular patterns that cause transformation andmalignancy. Eachof this stepwise evolutionof theinitialmoleculareventdrivesabnormalgrowthandlossofdifferentiationthatultimatelycauses tissue andorgan failure.The initialmolecular eventmay laywithin the erroneous expressionof a givengene,epigeneticmodificationand/orsporadicmutationsoccurringongenomicDNAduring the life span of organisms. Each and every one of thesemolecular eventsmay be evaluated and used as diagnostics biomarker and therapeutic target. For example, therapy actionmay target a mutated gene and silence its expression so as to avoid erroneousprotein expression thatmutates cell function.However, the fullunderstandingof themolecularonsetof thisdisease is still far from achievedandthesearchformechanismsof treatmentwill followclosely. It is here thatNanotechnology enters the fray offering awealth of tools to diagnose and treat cancer. Today, Nanotechnology is a burgeoning field that is helping to address critical global problems from cancer treatment to climate change. In fact, Nanotechnology is everywhere and is everyday practice (Conde), offering numerous tools to diagnose and treat cancer, such as new imaging agents, multifunctional devices capable of overcome biological barriers to deliver therapeuticagentsdirectlytocellsandtissuesinvolvedincancergrowthandmetastasis,anddevices capableofpredictingmolecularchanges topreventactionagainstprecancerouscells (Condeetal., 2012). Thenovel physical properties of inorganic particles at thenanometer size scale, combined with the high specific surface of polymeric nanoparticles and the possibility to engineer stimuli- responddrug release strategies, have providednew tools to physicians for the diagnostic and the therapyofdiseasessuchascancer. Nanomaterials-baseddelivery systems inTheranostics (Diagnostics andTherapy), at the same size level of proteins, DNA or RNA, provide better penetration of therapeutic and diagnostic 5|