Functionalized Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy

Chemotherapy is a standard cancer therapy but it has adverse effects because it sometimes fails to deliver therapeutic drugs to tumour cells in safe and effective ways. Nanotechnology is an emerging field of biological sciences and has great potential for controlled release of drugs and selective targeting; it leads the way in developing new cancer therapy options. In order to improve therapeutic efficacy and avoid serious side effects, researchers are creating targeting techniques based on functionalized nanoparticles as emerging treatment modalities for cancer therapy. Functionalization of nanoparticles has a number of advantageous properties including high specificity and affinity, small size, extremely low immunogenicity, relatively cheap production cost, and ease of storage. This chapter provides an overview of different nanoparticles and their functionalization for targeted drug delivery against different types of cancer.