Nanotechnology will provide novel, paradigm shifting solutions to medical problems. In oncology, nanomaterials are enabling targeted delivery of imaging agents and therapeutics to cancerous tissue; nanoscale devices are providing for multiplexed sensing in early disease detection and therapeutic monitoring.

Nanotherapeutics are capable of increasing treatment effectiveness while limiting side effects. Next generation of nanotherapies for cancer is expected to use active targeting of tumor-specific cell markers to deliver entirely new modalities of cancer treatment, including triggered release of cytotoxic molecules, genetic material, heat, or cellular disruption. Given that positive cancer outcomes are associated so closely with early detection, another important goal of cancer nanotechnology efforts is to improve diagnostic capabilities, through in vivo imaging contrast enhancement and in vitro device development. Magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, positron emission tomography (PET) will all benefit from the development of these new contrast agents. Furthermore, those constructs can be made to operate in multi-functional manner; whether it is ability to probe and monitor tumor microenvironment in addition to imaging tumor mass itself, capability of multi-modality imaging, or performing theranostic functions of diagnosis and subsequent treatment. Advances in microfluidics and nanodevices will greatly accelerate the genetic and proteomic analysis of cancer subtypes in vitro and the monitoring of markers of early or premalignant stage cancer and premetastatic disease.

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