Research progress of engineered nanomaterials in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer / 中华泌尿外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Prostate cancer poses a serious threat to the health of men with an increasing incidence in China. In recent years, great progress has been made in surgical and pharmaceutical treatment, but there are few promising techniques for early diagnosis of prostate cancer or therapeutics for advanced prostate cancer. Engineered nanomaterials have emerged and shown great potential in early diagnosis, precisely targeted therapies and synergistic therapeutics for prostate cancer because of unique physicochemical properties, such as size on the nanoscale, large specific surface area, high drug loading efficiency, fluorescence excitation ability and photothermal/photodynamic effect. This review focused on the new diagnoses and treatment strategies in prostate cancer with engineered nanomaterials, by summarizing the advancement of engineered nanomaterials in improving the sensitivity of molecular biology and imaging diagnosis, targeted guidance in surgery, sensitization of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and targeted drug delivery.