TY - JOUR
T1 - Nanomedicine for Imaging and Therapy of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma
AU - Brachi, Giulia
AU - Bussolino, Federico
AU - Ciardelli, Gianluca
AU - Mattu, Clara
N1 - Copyright © 2019 Brachi, Bussolino, Ciardelli and Mattu.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Pancreatic adenocarcinoma has the worst outcome among all cancer types, with a 5-year survival rate as low as 10%. The lethal nature of this cancer is a result of its silent onset, resistance to therapies, and rapid spreading. As a result, most patients remain asymptomatic and present at diagnosis with an already infiltrating and incurable disease. The tumor microenvironment, composed of a dense stroma and of disorganized blood vessels, coupled with the dysfunctional signal pathways in tumor cells, creates a set of physical and biological barriers that make this tumor extremely hard-to-treat with traditional chemotherapy. Nanomedicine has great potential in pancreatic adenocarcinoma, because of the ability of nano-formulated drugs to overcome biological barriers and to enhance drug accumulation at the target site. Moreover, monitoring of disease progression can be achieved by combining drug delivery with imaging probes, resulting in early detection of metastatic patterns. This review describes the latest development of theranostic formulations designed to concomitantly treat and image pancreatic cancer, with a specific focus on their interaction with physical and biological barriers.
AB - Pancreatic adenocarcinoma has the worst outcome among all cancer types, with a 5-year survival rate as low as 10%. The lethal nature of this cancer is a result of its silent onset, resistance to therapies, and rapid spreading. As a result, most patients remain asymptomatic and present at diagnosis with an already infiltrating and incurable disease. The tumor microenvironment, composed of a dense stroma and of disorganized blood vessels, coupled with the dysfunctional signal pathways in tumor cells, creates a set of physical and biological barriers that make this tumor extremely hard-to-treat with traditional chemotherapy. Nanomedicine has great potential in pancreatic adenocarcinoma, because of the ability of nano-formulated drugs to overcome biological barriers and to enhance drug accumulation at the target site. Moreover, monitoring of disease progression can be achieved by combining drug delivery with imaging probes, resulting in early detection of metastatic patterns. This review describes the latest development of theranostic formulations designed to concomitantly treat and image pancreatic cancer, with a specific focus on their interaction with physical and biological barriers.
U2 - 10.3389/fbioe.2019.00307
DO - 10.3389/fbioe.2019.00307
M3 - Review article
C2 - 31824928
VL - 7
SP - 307
JO - Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
JF - Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
SN - 2296-4185
ER -