Challenges Of Nanotechnology

Conventional chemotherapy delivers therapeutic agents to the cancerous cells to reduce their growth but the non-specificity of the drug affect normal cells as well (Sutradhar & Amin, 2014). Thus, the main challenge here is to design a specific drug delivery system to cancerous cells only (Sutradhar & Amin, 2014). The use of nanotechnology can provide a specific drug delivery system and overcome the challenges faced. Nanotechnology is a field that covers various areas such as biology, engineering, chemistry and physics (Gandhi et al., 2014). Due to its small size, nanoparticles have high surface area that not only allow ways for more efficient drug release to the cells and also be able to be functionalization (Nie et al., 2007). There are mainly …show more content…
One challenge that might arise is the irregularity of the tumour vasculature where fluid pressure is too high, causing the transport nanoparticles to be compromised, affecting the efficiency of the drug delivery (Sinek et al., 2004). Other than abnormal features of tumour vasculature, there are cases where nanoparticles cannot penetrate through the extracellular matrix (ECM) of the tumors (Kim, 2007). The inability to penetrate the ECM efficiently limits the nanoparticles therapeutic efficacy, as the nanoparticles are not able to affect tumour cells that are distant from the blood vessels (Kim, 2007).
In summary, nanotechnology have proven its effectiveness in drug delivery to cancer cells using organic (liposomes) and inorganic (AuNPs) nanoparticles platform as discussed above. Nanoparticles can be designed by modifying its properties that target specifically to cancer cells, and thus, enhancing the efficiency and efficacy of the therapeutic agents. However, the field of cancer nanotechnology still faces challenges that arise due to the abnormal features of tumour vasculature that may be solved in the future with advanced