Nanotheranostic Systems for Pancreatic Cancer: Therapeutic Potential and Challenges
Preeti Nigam Joshi, INSPIRE Faculty, National Chemical Laboratory
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most
aggressive malignancy and its late prognosis and complex stromal vesicular
structure makes it the most difficult malignancy to handle. It is considered as
the deadliest cancer with less than 5% survival rate. In spite of tremendous
medical advancements, pancreatic cancer is almost resistant to chemotherapy and
even with the most aggressive treatment options; its resurgence is observed in
most of the cases. Thus it is imperative
to design effective diagnostics and therapeutic strategies to treat this deadly
cancer and nanotechnology has the potential to overcome the challenges
associated with current cancer therapy.
Here different strategies for
selective delivery of nano based chemotherapeutics to pancreatic cancer site
and simultaneous imaging (theranostics) will be described. ADCs, siRNA and ligand
receptor based multifunctional nanoconjugates and their therapeutic potential
against this deadly cancer will be discussed. In spite of promising
nanotheranostic approach for cancer therapy, few challenges like overcoming
biological barriers and enhanced bioimaging strategies are still there to deal
with. The other part of the discussion will be focused on the major challenges associated
with successful clinical translation of nanotheranostic systems and their
possible solutions for early diagnosis of cancers.
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