Theranostic Nanomedicine for Cancer: Imaging-Guided Chemo-Photothermal Therapy and Clinical Perspectives

The new and combined way of treating cancer and monitoring its progress is called theranostic nanomedicine as this therapy pivots the diagnostic and therapeutic functions into a single nanoparticle. The strategy enables monitoring the disease progression at real-time, target delivery of drugs, and assessment of therapeutic response, which enhances accuracy and individual oncology. The nanoproducts Multifunctional nanocarriers are now available owing to the development of nanotechnology; these nanocarriers can be used to generate tumor images, chemotherapy, and photothermal therapy (PTT) simultaneously. In particular, near-infrared (NIR)-presented photothermal therapy with chemotherapy has been demonstrated to have greater anticancer efficacy, higher tumor specificity and reduced systemic toxicity, through the use of preclinical models. There are a number of nanomaterials that have been shown to have potentials in multimodal imaging and controlled drug delivery, including magnetic nanoparticles, quantum dots, and mesoporous silica nanoparticles. Despite the encouraging preclinical outcomes, the control over the passage to the clinical phase remains pale due to safety, biocompatibility, pharmacokinetic, scalability, and regulatory endorsement concerns. Chemo-photothermal theranostic nanomedicine has not been fulfilled therapeutically in the treatment of cancer unless additional optimization, extensive toxicological studies and clinical trials are undertaken.