Emerging Applications of Nanoparticles in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Breast Cancer

Overview

Journal J Pers Med

Date 2024 Jul 27

PMID 39063977

Authors

Josephine B Oehler

Weranga Rajapaksha

Hugo Albrecht

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Breast cancer remains the most prevalent cancer among women worldwide, driving the urgent need for innovative approaches to diagnosis and treatment. This review highlights the pivotal role of nanoparticles in revolutionizing breast cancer management through advancements of interconnected approaches including targeted therapy, imaging, and personalized medicine. Nanoparticles, with their unique physicochemical properties, have shown significant promise in addressing current treatment limitations such as drug resistance and nonspecific systemic distribution. Applications range from enhancing drug delivery systems for targeted and sustained release to developing innovative diagnostic tools for early and precise detection of metastases. Moreover, the integration of nanoparticles into photothermal therapy and their synergistic use with existing treatments, such as immunotherapy, illustrate their transformative potential in cancer care. However, the journey towards clinical adoption is fraught with challenges, including the chemical feasibility, biodistribution, efficacy, safety concerns, scalability, and regulatory hurdles. This review delves into the current state of nanoparticle research, their applications in breast cancer therapy and diagnosis, and the obstacles that must be overcome for clinical integration.

Citing Articles

A Comprehensive Review of Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery for Modulating PI3K/AKT/mTOR-Mediated Autophagy in Cancer.

Rahman M, Jalouli M, Bhajan S, Al-Zharani M, Harrath A Int J Mol Sci. 2025; 26(5).

PMID: 40076496 PMC: 11899884. DOI: 10.3390/ijms26051868.

Anti-MRSA effects of synergism of recombinant lysostaphin with biosynthesized silver nanoparticles.

Saleh Z, Mizher B Open Vet J. 2025; 14(12):3569-3580.

PMID: 39927374 PMC: 11799647. DOI: 10.5455/OVJ.2024.v14.i12.39.

MicroRNAs' Significance in Retinoblastoma Diagnosis and Treatment: The Little Heroes.

Zamani Sani M, Mirzaei M, Mota A, Mohammadian J, Beilankouhi E, Rahmati M Biochem Genet. 2025; .

PMID: 39862293 DOI: 10.1007/s10528-024-10976-2.

Current Status of Gout Arthritis: Current Approaches to Gout Arthritis Treatment: Nanoparticles Delivery Systems Approach.

Herdiana Y, Wardhana Y, Kurniawansyah I, Gozali D, Wathoni N, Sofian F Pharmaceutics. 2025; 17(1).

PMID: 39861750 PMC: 11768112. DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics17010102.

Nanotherapeutics for Meningitis: Enhancing Drug Delivery Across the Blood-Brain Barrier.

Sharma H, Narayanan K, Ghosh S, Singh K, Rehan P, Amist A Biomimetics (Basel). 2025; 10(1).

PMID: 39851741 PMC: 11762342. DOI: 10.3390/biomimetics10010025.

References

Gavas S, Quazi S, Karpinski T . Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy: Current Progress and Challenges. Nanoscale Res Lett. 2021; 16(1):173. PMC: 8645667. DOI: 10.1186/s11671-021-03628-6. View

Rej R, Roy J, Rao Allu S . Therapies for the Treatment of Advanced/Metastatic Estrogen Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer: Current Situation and Future Directions. Cancers (Basel). 2024; 16(3). PMC: 10854569. DOI: 10.3390/cancers16030552. View

Zhao J, Wang J, Cheng R, Qin J, Ai Z, Sun H . Safety and effectiveness of carbon nanoparticles suspension-guided lymph node dissection during thyroidectomy in patients with thyroid papillary cancer: a prospective, multicenter, randomized, blank-controlled trial. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2024; 14:1251820. PMC: 10801185. DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1251820. View

Mohan H, Fagan A, Giordani S . Carbon Nanomaterials (CNMs) in Cancer Therapy: A Database of CNM-Based Nanocarrier Systems. Pharmaceutics. 2023; 15(5). PMC: 10223982. DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15051545. View

Chehelgerdi M, Chehelgerdi M, Allela O, Pecho R, Jayasankar N, Rao D . Progressing nanotechnology to improve targeted cancer treatment: overcoming hurdles in its clinical implementation. Mol Cancer. 2023; 22(1):169. PMC: 10561438. DOI: 10.1186/s12943-023-01865-0. View

Sartaj A, Qamar Z, Qizilbash F, Annu , Md S, Alhakamy N . Polymeric Nanoparticles: Exploring the Current Drug Development and Therapeutic Insight of Breast Cancer Treatment and Recommendations. Polymers (Basel). 2021; 13(24). PMC: 8703470. DOI: 10.3390/polym13244400. View

Kara G, Calin G, Ozpolat B . RNAi-based therapeutics and tumor targeted delivery in cancer. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2022; 182:114113. DOI: 10.1016/j.addr.2022.114113. View

Subhan M, Yalamarty S, Filipczak N, Parveen F, Torchilin V . Recent Advances in Tumor Targeting via EPR Effect for Cancer Treatment. J Pers Med. 2021; 11(6). PMC: 8234032. DOI: 10.3390/jpm11060571. View

Chaudhari R, Patel V, Kumar A . Cutting-edge approaches for targeted drug delivery in breast cancer: beyond conventional therapies. Nanoscale Adv. 2024; 6(9):2270-2286. PMC: 11059480. DOI: 10.1039/d4na00086b. View

10.

Zheng H, Yuan C, Cai J, Pu W, Wu P, Li C . Early diagnosis of breast cancer lung metastasis by nanoprobe-based luminescence imaging of the pre-metastatic niche. J Nanobiotechnology. 2022; 20(1):134. PMC: 8922882. DOI: 10.1186/s12951-022-01346-4. View

11.

Yao Y, Zhou Y, Liu L, Xu Y, Chen Q, Wang Y . Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery in Cancer Therapy and Its Role in Overcoming Drug Resistance. Front Mol Biosci. 2020; 7:193. PMC: 7468194. DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2020.00193. View

12.

Zhang N, Xiong G, Liu Z . Toxicity of metal-based nanoparticles: Challenges in the nano era. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2023; 10:1001572. PMC: 9822575. DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.1001572. View

13.

Xie X, Wang Y, Siu S, Chan C, Zhu Y, Zhang X . Microfluidic synthesis as a new route to produce novel functional materials. Biomicrofluidics. 2022; 16(4):041301. PMC: 9410731. DOI: 10.1063/5.0100206. View

14.

Cheung A, Bax H, Josephs D, Ilieva K, Pellizzari G, Opzoomer J . Targeting folate receptor alpha for cancer treatment. Oncotarget. 2016; 7(32):52553-52574. PMC: 5239573. DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.9651. View

15.

Rajana N, Mounika A, Sandeep Chary P, Bhavana V, Urati A, Khatri D . Multifunctional hybrid nanoparticles in diagnosis and therapy of breast cancer. J Control Release. 2022; 352:1024-1047. DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2022.11.009. View

16.

Wang-Bishop L, Wehbe M, Pastora L, Yang J, Kimmel B, Garland K . Nanoparticle Retinoic Acid-Inducible Gene I Agonist for Cancer Immunotherapy. ACS Nano. 2024; 18(18):11631-11643. PMC: 11080455. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.3c06225. View

17.

Mundekkad D, Cho W . Nanoparticles in Clinical Translation for Cancer Therapy. Int J Mol Sci. 2022; 23(3). PMC: 8835852. DOI: 10.3390/ijms23031685. View

18.

Wang G, Li W, Shi G, Tian Y, Kong L, Ding N . Sensitive and specific detection of breast cancer lymph node metastasis through dual-modality magnetic particle imaging and fluorescence molecular imaging: a preclinical evaluation. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2022; 49(8):2723-2734. PMC: 9206605. DOI: 10.1007/s00259-022-05834-5. View

19.

Wang M, Liu Y, Shao B, Liu X, Hu Z, Wang C . HER2 status of CTCs by peptide-functionalized nanoparticles as the diagnostic biomarker of breast cancer and predicting the efficacy of anti-HER2 treatment. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2022; 10:1015295. PMC: 9554095. DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.1015295. View

20.

Xuan L, Ju Z, Skonieczna M, Zhou P, Huang R . Nanoparticles-induced potential toxicity on human health: Applications, toxicity mechanisms, and evaluation models. MedComm (2020). 2023; 4(4):e327. PMC: 10349198. DOI: 10.1002/mco2.327. View