Potential applications of nanoshells in biomedical sciences

Abstract

Nanotechnology is an emerging, disruptive technology with significant impact and application in cancer research. Nanoshells are the one such gift by this technology which is a dielectric core material made up of silica covered by thin metals especially gold. To achieve more effective and better diagnostic and/or therapeutic goals, nanoshells can be conjugated to antibodies, oligonucleotides, fluorophores, targeting ligands, polymers, therapeutic agents, and radioisotope. Nanoshells (and especially gold nanoshells) show promise application in biomedical imaging, target therapy, gene delivery, tissue welding, drug delivery systems, therapeutic applications in general and cancer imaging and treatment in particular. They find place in the field of medicine for such applications because of their safety, biocompatibility, stability, bioavailability, optically tunable, and photoluminescent ability as well as high ability to attach to many therapeutic materials. In this review, we comprehensively discuss the potential biomedical applications of different type of nanoshells. This review is briefly outlined in Figure 1.