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KMID : 0614620070490050271
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Korean Journal of Gastroenterology
2007 Volume.49 No. 5 p.271 ~ p.279
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Future Direction of Nanomedicine in Gastrointestinal Cancer
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Song Si-Young
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Abstract
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Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in human, and among various cancers, gastrointestinal cancers
occupy more than 55%. Gastric cancer is the first leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the world and the
number of pancreas and colon cancers are increasing remarkably during last two decades which will continue to
increase in the future. Even though the clinical importance of gastrointestinal cancers is very high and endless
efforts has been made to develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic methods to improve the patient’s quality of
life and survival, the realistic advance in the actual survival benefit of the cancer patients are still strongly
required. Nanotechnology has the power to radically change the way of cancer diagnosis and treatment. Currently,
there is a lot of researches on novel nanodevices capable of detecting cancer at its earliest stage, pinpointing its
location within the body, and delivering anticancer drugs specifically to the malignant cells. Nanoscale devices
can readily interact with biomolecules both on the cell surface and within the cell. In addition, nanoscale devices
are already proven that they can deliver therapeutic agents to target cells even within specific organelles. Major
areas in which nanomedicine is being developed in cancer include early detection and proteomics, imaging
diagnostics and multifunctional therapeutics. Because nanotechnology would provide a technical power and tool
that enable new diagnostics, therapeutics, and preventives to keep pace with today’s explosion in knowledge in
the future, it would be very useful to know the perspectives in the direction of nanotechnology as a major
clinician responsible for the patients with gastrointestinal malignancies.
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KEYWORD
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Nanomedicine, Gastrointestinal cancer
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