Translational Medicine
Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2008); 83, 5, 761–769. doi:10.1038/sj.clpt.6100400
Nanoparticles in Medicine: Therapeutic Applications and Developments
L Zhang1, FX Gu1, JM Chan2, AZ Wang3,4, RS Langer1 and OC Farokhzad4
- 1Department of Chemical Engineering and Division of Health Science and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- 2Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- 3Department of Radiation Oncology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- 4Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Biomaterials, Department of Anesthesiology, Brigham Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Correspondence: OC Farokhzad, (ofarokhzad@partners.org)
Abstract
Nanotechnology is the understanding and control of matter generally in the 1–100 nm dimension range. The application of nanotechnology to medicine, known as nanomedicine, concerns the use of precisely engineered materials at this length scale to develop novel therapeutic and diagnostic modalities.1,2 Nanomaterials have unique physicochemical properties, such as ultra small size, large surface area to mass ratio, and high reactivity, which are different from bulk materials of the same composition. These properties can be used to overcome some of the limitations found in traditional therapeutic and diagnostic agents.
