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The drawback of such a therapy is numerous unwanted side effects inflammatory response, nausea, diarrhoea, etc. Interferons have been, in the past thirty years, among the plethora of drugs, tested for the treatment of MM, both in randomised and nonrandomised studies. It has a broad spectrum of positive effects on the immune system and can aid the removal of the melanoma cells, which might have remained after the operation.

It also exhibits an antitumor activity in metastatic diseases [ 37 ]. Breakthroughs in immunotherapy have also enabled the use of T-cell activation regulation by blocking cytotoxic lymphocyte associated antigen-4 CTLA-4 in MM therapy. Ipilimumab is a human IgG1 monoclonal antibody that demonstrated an improvement in overall survival through this mechanism even in patients with advanced MM [ 39 , 43 ].

Clinical benefit has also been seen in programmed death 1 PD-1 blocking antibodies. Pembrolizumab and nivolumab are antibodies, used in the treatment of distant melanoma metastases. Nivolumab has successfully increased overall survival and one- and two-year survival rates when compared to dacarbazine and ipilimumab. It appears to be very well tolerated, with mild and manageable unwanted side effects such as rash, diarrhoea, and pruritus [ 39 ].

Pembrolizumab is a humanized anti-PD-1 IgG4 antibody that has also demonstrated a clinical benefit in patients with advanced MM. It also appears to be well tolerated with few unwanted side effects. PD-1 pathway inhibiting drugs also show promise in haematological malignancies [ 39 ]. Additionally, in preclinical mouse models, the combination of CTLA-4 and PD-1 blockade appeared to be synergistic, leading to the clinical development of this combination.

The combination demonstrated increased toxicity, although most seems to be treatable and reversible with prompt intervention [ 39 ]. ACT refers to the process of administering autologous or allogenic tumour-reactive T or NK cells to patients with the intent of achieving tumour regression. This process occurs through the isolation of lymphocytes with high affinity for tumour antigens, which can be selected ex vivo, stimulated, expanded, and infused back into the patient and represents an area of great promise in the treatment of metastatic MM.

It has been shown that numerous antigen-specific T cells can be isolated from excised tumours in MM. The limitations of this approach are the potential logistical and technical hurdles from patient selection, tumour resection, and expansion of adequate numbers of viable tumour infiltrating lymphocyte TIL cultures. To address some of these, novel strategies, such as genetically modified T cells, are being developed [ 39 ].

Regular check-ups for former patients of skin cancer should include active searching for tumour recurrences and also for newly acquired tumours and MM, for which they are more susceptible. These check-ups should offer an opportunity for treating actinic keratosis.

Bleeding, ulcerating, or changing lesion biopsies should be performed at the same time. Primary care physicians should aim to discover malignancies at an early stage, when they are still small and easily treated.

Preventive measures should be built around the most important etiological factor, namely, sunlight. Exposure to the latter should be reduced, in children and adults alike. Children should avoid unnecessary exposure to sunlight, if they must, then times before Parents should be reminded of UV radiation hazards sunburns and also of chronic sun exposure manifestations, such as wrinkled and thickened skin, irregular pigmentations, actinic keratosis, and tumours.

Covering the sun exposed skin is advisable at all times. They are proven to protect from actinic keratosis, but not necessarily from BCC. Also, they partially protect from sunburns, though this can mislead the user with regard to the received sun radiation. It has been noticed that many MM patients show suboptimal levels of vitamin D at diagnosis and that people with higher vitamin D levels have a lower MM-related mortality.

The links and causality between the two, however, have not yet been established [ 17 , 44 ]. For the treatment of skin cancer, many different types of nanoparticles have been studied. Some of these are liposomes, dendrimers, polymersomes, carbon-based nanoparticles, inorganic nanoparticles, and protein-based nanoparticles [ 45 ]. Some of these will be presented and further discussed in the following chapters.

Also, a brief overview of all mentioned nanotechnological approaches in treating skin cancer can be seen in Figure 2.

Nanosystems can be made from different materials organic, inorganic which determine their properties. Recently there have been quite a few studies discussing the different new possibilities of combining pharmacological agents and diagnostic procedures [ 46 , 47 ].

This in turn helps to solve the problem of solubility and delivery of highly hydrophobic anticancer drugs via the bloodstream [ 51 ]. We know that conventional drug delivery systems DDSs are often accompanied by systemic unwanted side effects that are mainly attributable to their nonspecific biodistribution and uncontrollable drug release characteristics.

However, functionalized nanomaterials can increase the target specificity as well as the uptake and selective accumulation near a tumour due to the enhanced permeability and retention EPR effect [ 52 , 53 ]. This in turn leads to lower drug doses and fewer unwanted side effects on healthy tissues [ 54 , 55 ].

These systems can, because of their size, circumvent filtration through the kidneys and therefore stay longer in the bloodstream. With specific adjustments e. Another benefit is that because of their high capacity, it could be possible to use drug carriers with more than one drug in combination therapy. Furthermore, drugs are, as stated previously, with the help of these carriers protected from a wide range of factors physical and chemical changes in the body, pH changes, ionic strength, etc.

The release of the drug from the carrier can be controlled via external or internal stimuli [ 58 , 59 ]. The release is mediated by changes in pH lower in a biochemically more active tumour , temperature higher in the tumour , redox potential, biological macromolecules enzymes, glucose, antigens, etc. Current nanoparticle aided drug delivery is at its most useful in solid tumour therapy [ 62 , 63 ]. Molecular biology methodology allows us to uncover potential targets within tumour vasculature, such as integrins, which have a role in angiogenesis [ 64 , 65 ].

Integrins bind to the tripeptide Arg-Gly-Asp RGD inclusive sequences and have been included into a cyclic nanopeptide RGD-4C, which binds to integrins v 3 in v 5 without any cross-reactivity with thrombocyte integrins and other ubiquitous receptors [ 66 ]. Other binding sequences also exist, such as histidine-tryptophan-glycine-phenylalanine HWGF , which actively binds to matrical metalloproteinases 2 and 9, which enhances adenoviral tropism for big blood vessel endothelial and smooth muscle cells [ 68 ].

Another such molecule is the NGR hexapeptide, which binds to N angiogenic endothelial cell peptidases [ 66 ]. Another antiangiogenic solid tumour treatment approach uses a synthetic v 3 analogue with the intention of targeted delivery of therapeutic genes complexed with cation nanoparticles in tumour endothelial cells [ 70 ]. A similar approach is used for location specific MR imaging with v 3 targeted paramagnetic nanoparticles, which can discover early tumour angiogenesis [ 66 , 71 ].

Other methods include selective targeting of blood and lymphatic vessels with peptide covered quantum dots [ 72 ] and also with NGR covered liposomes for tumour blood vessel closure [ 73 ]. Other important endothelial targets for therapeutic drug delivery include cell adhesion molecules CAMs e.

Anti-CAM nanoparticles can deliver compounds to pulmonary and heart endothelium in vivo [ 66 , 74 ]. Some human tissues have, under certain conditions such as cancer or inflammation, a lower pH than healthy tissues [ 75 , 76 ]. These pH differences are a useable stimulus for property modulation of certain materials, which can be used for specific reactions, such as controlled drug release [ 77 ]. An example of this principle is mesoporous silica nanoparticles MSNP , which can, in intravenous use, release the incorporated drug before they reach the target area.

This is an undesired effect, since the potentially toxic drugs damage healthy cells before they reach the cancer cells. Difference in pH can be used as a release stimulus, because the pores present in silica nanoparticles can be blocked by pH sensitive functional groups and hence can be unblocked when pH reaches a low enough value [ 78 , 79 ].

For this, we use different classes of pH sensitive molecules, which efficiently close the pores [ 78 , 79 ]. Heat is another stimulus that can be used for triggered release of molecules from MSNP [ 80 , 81 ]. Temperature of many tumours is slightly higher than normal body temperature. Volume of the said polymer can change in water, at the so-called low critical solution temperature LCST [ 85 ].

This can, in connection with MSNPs, prevent the drug release from the pores. Higher temperatures can also be achieved by external stimulation, for example, magnetic field, or light, which interact with the inorganic nanoparticles included in or bound to the MSNP. Exposing the said system to an outer electromagnetic field causes a raise in the local temperature around the nanoparticles, which subsequently leads to a phase transformation of PNIPAM, which enables the release of the drug [ 91 ].

Intracellular and extracellular environments of living tissues exhibit different redox potentials. Due to a —fold increase of glutathione GSH levels within tumour cells compared to the extracellular levels, a natural redox potential may occur [ 86 ]. These potential differences can be used for triggering the drug release from nanoparticles within the cancer cells inside trigger.

Here, similarly to the pH system, a redox responsive system was devised, where a variety of nanoplugs may be used. The typical redox responsive plug-MSNP bond is a disulphide one [ 95 ]. Due to high intracellular GSH concentration, the disulphide bridge dissolves, which causes the emergence of two thiol groups on the targeted tumour site, because GSH acts as a reducing agent [ 95 ]. Low blood reducing agent levels allow for the disulphide connections to remain intact. Biocompatible and bioactive molecules are, due to their responsiveness to bodily stimuli, frequently used for controlled drug release.

The most often used biomolecules are bioenzymes e. Enzyme responsive nanogates are, due to anomalous elevation of enzymatic activity in certain unhealthy tissues, a feasible option for MSNP pore closure. Light can be, thanks to its specific physical properties, used as a trigger for releasing encapsulated molecules from micro- and nanosystems. It is possible, within the MSNP frame, to successfully include light sensitive molecules, which gives us a light-responsive drug delivery system.

The light-responsive MSNP state modulation can be reversible or irreversible, which is usually dependent on the manner of chromophore bonding to MSNPs. The photochromic nanoparticle component isomerisation is usually followed by heat or visible reisomerisation. The reversible pore plugging and unplugging offers some distinct advantages, because it enables the possibility of using complex drug releasing mechanisms [ 66 ].

Materials, used most often, are iron oxide nanoparticles IONP [ , ]. The magnetic field is created using strong permanent magnets, usually of the neodymium kind. In order to localize the nanoparticles in the target tissue, one must focus the magnetic field on a specific area to which the IONP with the incorporated drug are drawn [ , ]. The power and location of the magnetic field are adaptable, which means that we may control the nanoparticle accumulation, which lessens the unwanted cytotoxic effects on healthy tissues [ ].

The magnetic field gradient is dependent on local resistance caused by blood flow and depth of the targeted site , which makes these nanoparticles more efficient in areas with less blood flow, and closer to the surface. IONP are, in general, coated with hydrophobic polymers, which makes them less susceptible to opsonization, which, in turn, prolongs the circulation time and secures the binding surface for drug molecules, or specific target ligands [ ].

MSNP in combination with magnetic nanoparticles represent a promising alternative drug delivery method, one which is advantageous due to its high capacity, target specificity, and magnetic properties that are useful in targeting and controlled drug release [ 91 ].

Their membrane is double layered, quite similar to biological ones, with an internal aqueous phase [ ]. Liposomes can be divided according to their size and number of layers into multi-, oligo-, or unilamellar [ ]. The aqueous core can be used for the encapsulation of water soluble drugs, whereas the lipid membrane can act as a carrier for hydrophobic and amphiphilic compounds [ ].

Other positive features of liposomes are very good circulation, penetration, and diffusion qualities [ , ]. The surface of the vesicles can be bound with ligands or polymers, which extensively increases their specificity for drug delivery.

Research has already shown that liposomes gather close to tumour vessels in the interstitial fluid. There are currently a few different types of liposomes used as drug carriers for anticancer therapy. One of these therapies is also the treatment of MM [ , ]. The advance in cationic liposomes has led to a successful delivery of siRNA [ , ]. Theranostic liposomes have also been developed, which can be equipped with an array of different nanoparticles as well as an active compound.

Liposomes can be modified to include magnetic elements, which allow for real time monitoring or for the entrapment of gasses and drugs [ 45 ]. Liposomes filled with doxorubicin, cisplatin, oxaliplatin, camptothecin, and other drugs have reached higher cytotoxicity and decreased adverse effects, due to targeted release [ 45 ].

According to a study conducted by Fang et al. Niosomes nonionic surfactant vesicles filled with 5-fluorouracil produced an eightfold increase in cytotoxicity, compared to an aqueous solution [ 45 ]. Solid lipid nanoparticles SLNs were presented in as an alternative to liposomes, emulsion, and polymeric nanoparticles as drug carriers. They are very stable and therefore provide protection from degradation of the drug as well as enable easy control over drug release [ , ].

Organic solvents are not required for their development. They are biodegradable, biocompatible and very rarely toxic. Furthermore, their production and sterilization are not profoundly difficult. It has been shown that with the use of these nanoparticles the in vitro and in vivo efficacy of the drug docetaxel in colorectal cancer and MM has increased [ 45 ].

Polymeric mycelia are structures that consist of two or more polymeric chains with varying degrees of hydrophobicity [ , ]. Mycelia spontaneously converge into a characteristic mycelial structure, which consist of a centre and a shell with different properties.

The hydrophobic parts form the centre, which decreases their exposure to an aqueous environment, while the hydrophilic parts form the shell that remain in contact with the aqueous environment, thereby stabilizing the centre [ ]. Since they are smaller in size than liposomes they have a shorter circulation time and are more inclined to enter tumours, due to the EPR effect [ ]. Drugs with low solubility can be transported in the hydrophobic centre, while the hydrophilic shell offers sterical protection to the mycelium, which reduces systemic toxicity.

Its usefulness can be improved with the inclusion of ligands into the shell e. Polymeric mycelia are usually more stable in the bloodstream than liposomes and other surface mycelia [ ]. They can be used to deliver two or more active ingredients in combined therapy, due to their considerable size.

Paramagnetic metals, like gadolinium or manganese that are often used as contrast agents, can be inserted into the mycelia. As such, they can also be used in imaging [ , ]. They are usually used as pH sensitive pharmaceutical delivery systems and are administered per os [ 45 ]. They consist of a core, made of repeating units and various terminal groups, that determine their 3D structure [ , ]. They can be made to deliver hydrophilic or hydrophobic pharmaceuticals, nucleic acids, and imaging contrasts, due to their well-defined size, molecular mass, monodispersity, multivalency, the number of available internal compartments, high level of branching, and many functional groups on the surface [ ].

Dendrimer targeted ligands are capable of specific targeting and tumour elimination [ , ]. These ligands include oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, oligopeptides, semiunsaturated fatty acids, folates, and tumour associated antigens. The downside to dendrimers is the difficulty to release the pharmaceutical in a controlled manner.

New developments in dendrimer and polymeric chemistry have produced a new type of molecule, called dendronized polymers [ ]. Dendronized polymers are linear polymers that carry dendrons on every repeated unit and have an increased circulation time, which is advantageous for drug delivery.

A drug can also be bound to a degradable link that can be used to control the release of the drug [ — ]. Carbon nanotubes are carbon allotropes, composed of one or more coaxial sheaths of graphite only a few atom layers thick and folded into cylinders [ ]. They can be single-walled or multiwalled and exhibit extraordinary physical, photochemical, and electrochemical properties [ , ]. Being semiconductors, they are often used as biosensors [ , ]. They can also be used as drug transporters or as a basis for tissue regeneration [ ].

Single wall carbon fibre nanotubes SWCNT that are capable of tumour targeting are synthesized by covalently binding several copies of tumour specific monoclonal antibodies, radiating ion chelates and fluorescent probes to the tubes [ ].

This system can then be filled with molecules of an antitumor drug. Since this does not require covalent bonding, the antibodies capability to bind to tumour cells is not impaired by a greater quantity of the drug [ ]. They can be used to carry gadolinium atoms, which is useful in MRI imaging of tumours.

They can also be equipped with agonists or antagonists to various receptors on their surface, which can be used to treat the tumour [ 45 ]. Mesoporous silica is an effective drug transporter. In comparison to common organic transporters, they have a variable particle size, a different morphology, an even and adjustable pore size, high chemical and mechanical stability, a large surface, pore volume, a great drug transporting capacity, and simple surface functionality [ 45 , , — ]. They have a broad absorption spectrum and a symmetrical and narrow emission, usually in the visible spectrum near the infrared area [ ].

The central core of the quantum dots usually consists of a combination of elements of the II—VI groups e. By changing the size and composition, we can control the emission spectrum and quantum results.

They are suitable for high-intensity, long-term, multitarget bioimaging applications, due to their photostability [ — ]. We can select a specific colour of emission of a quantum dot. In order to detect MM, however, we have to create a hydrophilic surface and attach a ligand that can be used to detect the tumour [ ].

These ligands can be antibodies, peptides, smaller molecules, or inhibitors [ , ]. Biocompatibility can be increased by adding silicon or other biocompatible polymer sheaths, which also decreases their toxicity. These particles show a combination of physical, chemical, optical, and electronic properties that are not found in other biomedical nanomaterials and are applicable in gene delivery, as contrasting agents and as part of drug delivery systems [ , ].

The advantages of gold nanoparticles lie in the simple synthesis of various particle sizes, confirmed biocompatibility, and the capability to conjugate with other biomolecules without changing their biological properties [ , ]. They are also nontoxic and biocompatible, as they do not induce an allergic or immune response of any kind [ 45 ]. These are nanoparticles composed of ferrous oxide, covered with a sheath, that enables stability, prevents agglomeration, and enables other functions e.

They can very effectively be synthesized by decomposing iron precursors while being immersed in oleic acid. These particles, however, are hydrophobic and need further manipulation to achieve hydrophilicity [ ]. These nanoparticles gain a large magnetic momentum in an external magnetic field and are therefore considered as superparamagnetic materials, which makes them interesting for biomedical use [ ].

They can be used as a contrast in MRI, since they produce a large quantity of contrast per unit, which means that a small dose of particles is sufficient for the imaging, which decreases toxicity [ , ]. These particles are capable of transforming the energy of an external magnetic field into heat, which can be used to treat tumours, since tumour cells are more susceptible to high temperatures than normal human cells [ ].

Their surface can be augmented with various functional groups, increasing biocompatibility and biodegradability, which further increases their usefulness. Polymers like cellulose, dextran, PEG, or PLGA that can also be added to the surface increase their biocompatibility and biodegradability [ — ]. Certain additional kinds of therapy, for example, therapeutic hyperthermia, have been to some degree successful but have yet to become a part of the standard variety of therapies [ ].

The reason for this lies in the difficulty of an accurate differentiation between normal and cancer tissue, but also in the failure of specific targeting of tumours, as well as insufficient understanding with regard to hyperthermic cytotoxicity [ ].

In Roizin-Towle and Pirro discovered that one can destroy all cells with an appropriate amount of heat. However, compared to normal cells, in vitro experiments have not shown any increased sensitivity of tumour cells to heat.

This differs in radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The aforementioned authors have shown that, in thermal therapy, one needs to achieve a high enough concentration of active particles ones that are able to emit heat in the immediate proximity of the tumour cells [ ]. Although there is a noticeable difference in vivo, there is still a lack of clinically available technology that would make it possible for the active particles to be accurately applied in the effective proximity of the tumours [ ].

Hyperthermia is only effective in treating tumours if certain conditions are met [ , ]. These are a high enough concentration of nanoparticles in the tumour, which is also considerably higher than that in the surrounding healthy tissue, and a sufficiently high specific absorption particle level that is responsible for a sufficiently high intratumoural amount of applied heat, which must be tolerable for the normal tissues [ ].

There are three currently researched methods of therapeutically heating nanoparticles. These are optical laser heating, ultrasound heating of small bubbles, and heating of metal nanoparticles, aided by an alternating magnetic field [ — ].

Naturally, there are pros and cons to each of the aforementioned methods. The optical method is an effective way of heating the particles but is limited by the depth related weakening of the laser. Ultrasound is capable of targeted energy focus, but the delivered energy is not constant because of the different sound velocity in different tissues, and the probe opening is also rather small. Magnetic nanoparticles can be effectively heated at any depth, and they can also be used in diagnostic imaging procedures [ ].

Hyperthermia can also be used as a form of adjuvant therapy, because it is well-known that exposure of tumour cells to even a slightly raised temperature increases the sensitivity of these cells for chemotherapy and radiotherapy [ — ]. One of the oldest uses of heat application can be found in treating intraperitoneal ovary cancer metastases, where a higher effectiveness of certain chemotherapeutics has been proven. However, there are limitations to this method as well, for it is impossible to deliver the same amount of heat to all the metastases [ ].

Currently, chemotherapy is only an adjuvant therapy to radiotherapy in solid tumours, because selective delivery of the chemotherapeutics to the tumours is lacking, which could be changed with the usage of localized hyperthermia [ , , ]. In this way, the effectiveness of the chemotherapeutics could be increased, which would allow for a lower dosage of the drug in question, which also means that the toxicity in the nontumour tissue would decrease [ ]. The combination of chemotherapeutics and hyperthermia can be adjusted, depending on the type and site of the tumour, also for the dose of the drug, and temperature.

Additionally, hyperthermia can improve radiotherapy, because ionizing radiation damages the DNA, while heat damages proteins, responsible for the repair of the former. Moreover, hyperthermia can also destroy cells in the hypoxic areas of the tumours, those that are more resistant to radiation [ ].

One can heat the nanoparticles in a variety of ways, such as with dielectric energy losses in a material with low electrical conductivity, losses of energy of the Foucault currents in a material with high electroconductivity, frictional heating induced with physical spinning of an anisotropic magnetic particle, and hysteretic losses in a magnetic material [ ]. The first two mechanisms can, however, cause unwanted heating of the normal tissue, which makes them clinically less interesting [ ].

Frictional heating is possible because of the physical spinning of an anisotropic magnetic particle in an alternating magnetic field, which leads to energy losses. Such heating may induce mechanical cell damage [ ]. Hysteretic energy loss is possible because of an irreversible particle magnetization in an alternating magnetic field [ ].

In the field of MM research there have been many new studies in which researchers tried combining new nanotechnological advances with conventional methods and treatment procedures chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, etc.

Maria Bernadete R Pierre et al. In a study that included 26 patients, Bedikian et al. Huber et al. Mycelia were used in a small-scale phase 1 study, which showed that patients with MM tolerate NC Nanoplatin well [ ]. Dendrimers were successfully used in immunotherapy, immunoradiotherapy, and other tumour treatments, among others in MM and SCC. They can also be used for diagnostic imaging of cancer cells e.

Gadolinium dendrimer conjugates were shown to enable selective large-scale targeting and imaging of tumours [ 45 , , ]. A low solubility antitumor compound camptothecin has been loaded into polyvinyl alcohol-functionalized multiwalled nanotubes.

The results showed that such a combination could be used to treat breast and skin cancer [ ]. Gold nanoparticles can be used to increase cell and tissue sensitivity to therapy and to guide and control surgical procedures.

Various active ingredients, including proteins, DNA, and smaller drug molecules, can be bound to the surface of gold nanoparticles, which leads to a therapeutic effect in different kinds of tumours, including MM [ , ]. They are also excellent markers for biosensors, as they can be detected in many ways, such as optic absorption, fluorescence, and electrical conductivity. Together with reflex microscopy, antibody-bound gold nanoparticles enable highly sensitive cancer imaging [ , , ].

Superparamagnetic ferrous oxide thermal therapy can be used as an adjuvant therapy in order to sensitise cancer cells to chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Rao et al. The term theranostics was first used by Funkhouser in [ ]. By definition, theranostics provides a combination of diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities, and as such shows great promise to significantly contribute to the advancement of personalized medicine [ 46 , 56 ].

Theranostic nanomedicine is an interdisciplinary field, which combines the expertise of genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, biophysics, pharmacology, pharmaceutical technology, and so forth. The main aim is to develop an efficient and safe nanosystem that is composed of a high capacity nanoplatform that can carry therapeutic agents and at the same time include a diagnostic component, hence combining both imaging and therapeutic functions [ , ].

Release of the therapeutic agent on target site could be spontaneous or specially specified e. Such systems could be guided, followed, and monitored to the point of determining the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of the drug in real time [ 47 , , ]. Moreover, with the selection of the appropriate nanoplatform, one could bypass certain pharmacokinetic limitations of drugs, which could lead to an easier mode of application and, with regard to the aim of reducing systemic toxicity, improve selectivity of targeting only diseased tissues.

Due to all mentioned, this field shows most likely the biggest potential in oncology [ ]. A great example of that is the sheer number of published studies and articles. Orecchioni et al. Furthermore, von Felbert et al. They developed a homogenous phototheranostic system which combines optic imaging, photodynamic therapy, and immunotherapy [ ].

Last but not least, there were also some newer theranostic advances in treating skin cancer. For example, in the study described by Vannucci et al. The as-prepared nanoparticles were also coated with PEG molecules, which prevented their binding to unwanted receptors. They also added the fluorescent dye rhodamine as the diagnostic component [ ]. Another example of theranostics in skin cancer treatment has been presented in the study by Ma et al.

Both examples show very promising results that could, in a not that far future, make them applicable also in the clinics. Novel treatment approaches, regardless of the disease, are meant to be more efficient, cheaper, and without any sacrifice of patient safety, if not even improving it. To achieve the latter, an ideal treatment should be developed taking into account good patient compliance, a better overall treatment efficiency, a very low possible toxicity, and very high yields of reaching the targeted site in the body per unit mass of the medicine.

Nanotechnology based formulations can provide all mentioned. They can be more efficient, since they can be decorated with targeting moieties e. Both mentioned leads also to a lowered toxicity, since lower doses are necessary to achieve the same effect [ ], as well as the targeting and controlled release only at the targeted site, and renders the toxicity highly localized.

The latter is also in direct relation to the high yields of the delivery [ ]. Knowing these potential advantages of such formulations, it comes to no surprise that these are heavily researched and that there is a high demand for their uptake into clinical practice as soon proven safe. And indeed, there are at least two already approved nanotechnology based formulations used in cancer treatment. It's also largely preventable. Here is In May , year-old new college graduate Heather Quintal was excited to begin a career at an accounting firm in Boston Some issue highlights: Face Facts Basal cell carcinoma BCC is the most common skin cancer and is often easy to treat and cure.

But BCC on your face can be a big deal, as actress and producer Alison Sweeney learned when she was diagnosed. By Leslie Laurence The Mind-Skin Stress Connection Does your state of mind affect your skin health, or does your skin health affect your state of mind? The link works both ways! Our experts explain what you need to know and how to mitigate the damage.

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