top of page

NANOMEDICINE, FUTURE ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE FOR CANCER?

Currently, one of the diseases that causes significant problems in the medical field is cancer, where the therapies utilized to treat the disease cause side effects that are detrimental to the patient's health. Patients treated with chemotherapy often suffer from fatigue, pain, depression, and nausea. An alternative medicine developed by scientists called nanomedicine medicine has shown promising results; however, the procedure has not progressed from the experimental phase due to ethical concerns.

A procedure developed using nanomedicine is known as the Free drug plus nano approach, which allows physicians to have an adjustable prescription for the medication and has the benefit of easy preparation and industrialization. Unfortunately, the Free drug plus nano approach does not target cancer cells effectively, damaging the patient's healthy cells and reducing the effectiveness of the treatment. Furthermore, the patient also has the risk of suffering from systemic toxicity, where multiple organs in the body are affected, leading to cell damage.

The use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) with nanomedicine allows physicians to develop a precise medication specifically based on the patient's genome. The use of nanomedicine with AI has created ethical concerns surrounding the acquisition of patient genetic information by AI, allowing insurance companies to deny their service to patients based on their susceptibility to a chronic condition.

Work Cited

Lorusso D, Bria E, Costantini A, Di Maio M, Rosti G, Mancuso A. Patients’ perception of chemotherapy side effects: Expectations, doctor–patient communication and impact on quality of life – An Italian survey. European journal of cancer care. 2017; 26(2):e12618-n/a. doi:10.1111/ecc.12618

Khot VM, Salunkhe AB, Pricl S, Bauer J, Thorat ND, Townley H. Nanomedicine-driven molecular targeting, drug delivery, and therapeutic approaches to cancer chemoresistance. Drug discovery today. 2021; 26(3):724-39. doi:10.1016/j.drudis.2020.12.016

Markman JL, Rekechenetskiy A, Holler E, Ljubimova JY. Nanomedicine therapeutic approaches to overcome cancer drug resistance. Advanced drug delivery reviews. 2013; 65(13-14):1866-79. doi:10.1016/j.addr.2013.09.019

Mu W, Chu Q, Liu Y, Zhang N. A Review on Nano-Based Drug Delivery System for Cancer Chemoimmunotherapy. Nano-micro letters. 2020; 12(1):142-. doi:10.1007/s40820-020-00482-6

Artificial Intelligence Based Cancer Nanomedicine: Diagnostics, Therapeutics and Bioethics, edited by Fahima Dilnawaz, and Ajit Kumar Behura, Bentham Science Publishers, 2022. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://www.proquest.com/legacydocview/EBC/7014636?accountid=7122.

Wei, Guoqing et al. “Recent progress in nanomedicine for enhanced cancer chemotherapy.” Theranostics vol. 11,13 6370-6392. 19 Apr. 2021, doi:10.7150/thno.57828

Greenwood, Michael. “Applying Nanomedicine to Empower Humanity.” News, 18 July 2023, www.news-medical.net/health/Applying-Nanomedicine-to-Empower-Humanity.aspx.

bottom of page