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com Special Feature - Nanobiotechnology/Nanomedicine

Applications of
Nanomedicine by Sanjeeb K Sahoo, Ph.D

Introduction

O ne of the most promising applications of nanotechnology is in the field of medicine. Indeed, a whole
new field of “nanomedicine” is emerging. Nanomedicine has been defined as the monitoring, repair,
construction and control of human biological systems at the molecular level using engineered
nanodevices and nanostructures.1 It can also be regarded as another implementation of nanotechnology
in the field of medical science and diagnostics. The National Cancer Institute and the National Aeronautics
& Space Administration, USA are working to develop nano-sized technologies that can detect, diagnose,
and treat disease. Researchers in this field are “confident that they are going to turn healthcare inside out.”
Richard Smalley, a Nobel Prize-winning chemist at Rice University, USA, described to the Congress how
the potential of nanotechnology can transform medicine: Twenty years from now, nanotechnology will have
given us specially engineered drugs that specifically target just the mutant cancer cells in the human body,
and leave everything else blissfully alone. Cancer will be a thing of the past.2
Nanotechnology can be defined as the science and engineering involved in the design, synthesis,
characterization, and application of materials and devices whose smallest functional organization in at least
one dimension is on the nanometer scale or one billionth of a meter. The prefix “nano” is derived from the
Greek word for dwarf. One nanometer (nm) is equal to one-billionth of a meter, or about the width of six
carbon atoms or ten water molecules. A human hair is approximately 80,000 nm wide, and a red blood cell
approximately 7000 nm wide. Atoms are below a nanometer in size, whereas many molecules, including
some proteins, range from a nanometer upwards. Current applications of nanotechnology in medicine range
from research involving diagnostic devices and drug delivery vehicles to robots that can enter the body and
perform specific tasks. In the near future, applications of nanomedicine will involve engineered molecules
to develop drugs, drug delivery techniques, diagnostics, medical devices and enhanced gene therapy and
tissue engineering procedures.3

Nanomedicine as a Potential Platform for Therapeutic Applications

Applications of nanotechnologies in medicine are especially promising, and areas such as disease
diagnosis, drug delivery targeted at specific sites in the body and molecular imaging are being intensively
investigated and some products are undergoing clinical trials. Nanotechnology is relatively new. Although
the full scope of contributions these technological advances will make in medicine is unexplored, recent
advances suggested nanotechnology will have a profound impact on disease prevention, diagnosis, and
treatment. The current generation of drugs is largely based on small molecules with a mass of 1000 Da or less
that circulate systemically. Common deleterious consequences of systemic biodistribution include toxicity to
nontarget tissues, difficulty in maintaining drug concentrations within therapeutic windows, and metabolism
and excretion of drugs, all of which can reduce efficacy. Drug solubility and cell permeability issues are
also common with small molecules and biologics. Nanotechnology-based delivery systems could mitigate
these problems by combining tissue- or organ-specific targeting with therapeutic action. Multifunctional
nano-delivery systems could also combine targeting, diagnostic, and therapeutic actions.
More than 90 years ago, Nobel laureate German immunologist Paul Ehrlich proposed the
so-called magic bullets artificial biochemical agents that would transport and release drugs at only desired

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sites in the body. Targeting the delivery of drugs to diseased lesions is one of the important aspects of the
drug delivery systems. To convey a sufficient dose of drug to the lesion, suitable carriers of drugs are needed.
Although opportunities to develop nanotechnology-based efficient drug delivery systems extend into all
therapeutic classes of pharmaceuticals, the development of effective treatment modalities for the respiratory,
central nervous system, and cardiovascular disorders remains a financially and therapeutically significant need.
Many therapeutic agents have not been successful because of their limited ability to reach to the target tissue.
In addition, faster growth opportunities are expected in developing delivery systems for anti-cancer agents,
hormones, and vaccines owing to safety and efficacy shortcomings in their conventional administration
modalities. For example, in cancer chemotherapy, cytostatic drugs damage both malignant and normal
cells alike. Thus, a drug delivery strategy that selectively targets the malignant tumor is very much needed.
Additional problems include drug instability in the biological milieu and premature drug loss through rapid
clearance and metabolism. Similarly, high protein binding of certain drugs such as protease inhibitors limits
their diffusion to the brain and other organs. However, nanotechnology for drug delivery applications may
not be suitable for all drugs, especially those drugs that are less potent because the higher dose of the drug
would make the drug delivery system more massive, which would be difficult to administer.
Drug bioavailability is a related problem with potential nanotechnology solutions. Nanotechnology
is opening up new therapeutic opportunities for a large number of agents that cannot be used effectively
as conventional oral formulations, due to poor bioavailability. In some cases, reformulation of a drug with
smaller particle size may improve oral bioavailability. Nanoparticles formulations provide protection for
agents susceptible to degradation or denaturation in regions of harsh pH, and also prolong the duration of
exposure of a drug by increasing retention of the formulation through bioadhesion.
Another broad application of nanotechnology is the delivery of antigens for vaccination. Mucosal immunity
is extremely important in disease prevention, but continues to be limited by both degradation of the vaccine
and limited uptake. Recent advances in encapsulation and development of suitable animal models have
demonstrated that micro and nanoparticles are capable of enhancing immunization. It has been shown that
M cells in the Peyer’s Patches of the distal small intestine are capable of engulfing large microparticles and
recent studies have explored the benefits of nanoencapsulation.

Nanomedicine as Diagnostic Purposes

Biomedical laboratory diagnosis plays a key role in today’s health care. Most testing is done on a
macroscopic scale, for example, in micro titer plates. Size reduction of biomedical lab tests has several
advantages: Not only does it lead to a marked reduction of the sample volume needed for testing, but it also
results in a marked reduction of (potentially expensive) reagents such as monoclonal antibodies. Last but not
least, it may lead to a significant reduction in the time required. Moreover, the ability of current nanotools
to measure interaction microforces between individual molecules is most promising for biomedical testing
because this might eliminate the need for reagent labeling, a tedious and expensive step. Taken together,
small sized sample volumes and fast reaction times bring mobile testing devices into the realm of reality.
They indicate that there will be a strong trend toward point-of-care testing at the bedside or in an ambulatory
setting.
One of the first applications of nanomedicine will be improved fluorescent markers for diagnostic
and screening purposes. Conventional fluorescent markers require complex color. Non invasive imaging
techniques had a major impact in medicine over the past 25 years or so. The current drive in developing
techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is to enhance spatial resolution and contrast
agents. Nanotechnologies already offer the possibility of intracellular imaging through attachment of quantum
dots or synthetic chromophores to selected molecules, for example, proteins, or by the incorporation of
naturally occurring fluorescent proteins which, with optical techniques such as confocal microscopy and

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correlation imaging, allows intracellular biochemical processes to be investigated directly. One application is
improved imaging of the human (or any) body. Before you can treat a disease, you must diagnose it. Advances
in nanotechnology have led to the design and construction of structures at the nanometer scale, in a precisely
controlled manner. Amongst these improved nanostructures, nanoprobes (particles <100 nm) have stimulated a
strong interest in the area of biological and clinical research. Unlike macroscale structures, nanoscale structures
have optical and electronic properties that can be tuned by the structure’s size, shape or material composition.
These properties offer engineers, clinicians, and researchers an unlimited supply of precursor materials for the
design of contrast agents for imaging applications, optical switches for triggering drug release, or for therapy
Nanotechnology could significantly improve diagnostic capabilities. Nanomedicine will increase the efficiency
and accuracy of diagnosis from samples of body fluids. For example, some companies are attempting to develop
microchips that use electrodes to identify the dielectric properties of cancerous cells, viruses, and bacteria in
body fluids. Nanomedicine could result in non invasive devices that can enter the body to determine glucose
levels, distinguish between normal and cancerous tissues, and provide genetic screening for multiple diseases.
For example, researchers are working with a nanoscale needle that can probe cells for carcinogenic chemicals.
Ultimately, research in this area could yield a tiny pill that will travel through the body and provide a comprehensive
diagnosis of the patient’s health. There are even some who suggest that tiny devices could be implanted to constantly
monitor health. As one reporter speculated, a person in the future may look at her watch, and it will read: “Slow
down, your pulse is too high, and you are about to have a heart attack.”

Conclusion
The genesis of nanomedicine can be traced to the promise of revolutionary advances across medicine,
communications and human health care. The health care revolution brought about by nanomedicine could dwarf
all other trends in the history of medical technology. Although the FDA should be relatively prepared for some of the
earliest and most basic applications of nanomedicine in areas such as gene therapy and tissue engineering, more
advanced applications of nanomedicine will pose unique challenges in terms of classification and maintainence
of scientific expertise. The agency should begin to prepare now for the coming revolution in nanomedicine.

Contact Details:
References
Name: Sanjeeb K Sahoo, Ph.D.
1. Robert Freitas, Nanomedicine 2, 1999, available at Address: Laboratory for Nanomedicine,
http://www.foresight.org / Nanomedicine
Institute of Life Sciences,
2. Robert Freitas, supra note 29, at 26 (quoting Smalley
Nalco Square, Chandrasekharpur,
in testimony before a congressional sub committee
about the promise of nanotechnology). Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India
3. Rocco MC, Nanotechnology: convergence with Tel: +91 674 2300137
modern biology and medicine. Curr Opin Fax: +91 674 2300728
Biotechnol. (2003) 3, 337-46. Email: sanjeebsahoo2005@gmail.com

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