ABSTRACT
A number of pathological conditions lead to the generation of cancer. The greatest factor contributing to death globally is cancer. According to the scant data, genetic transpositions are more likely to be the root cause of most human cancers than traditional mutagens are. Chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery are currently the three main methods used to treat cancer. These three treatments for metastatic cancer have significant adverse effects, though, and are not enough to cure the disease at its root. Chemotherapy for the treatment of cancer has issues like non-specificity, harm to healthy cells, and development of multi-drug resistance. Nanoparticles have been extensively investigated and become a cutting-edge technology for identifying and treating tumours. Nanomaterials are substances with unique optical, magnetic, and electrical properties. They are substances with a size between 1 and 100 nm. Nanomaterials have been altered for use in various treatments to minimize cytotoxicity and lack of specificity; boost drug capacity and bioavailability; and target cancer cells, the tumour microenvironment, and the immune system. This chapter highlights the use of magnetic nanoparticles to avoid major side effects observed with the use of conventional cancer therapy. Magnetic nanoparticles have already achieved significant advancements in cancer therapy. This chapter also introduces cancer theranostics. Cancer theranostics are becoming popular; theranostics is a portmanteau of therapeutics and diagnostics. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have gained a lot of attention in the field of cancer nanotheranostics because of their innate magnetic capabilities, which enable the use of contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging and as a therapy strategy when combined with hyperthermia. Due to their low toxicity and promising biocompatibility in oncology, iron oxide-based MNPs such as Fe3O4 (magnetite) and c-Fe2O3 (maghemite) are being investigated the most. They are used in a variety of applications, including MRI contrast agents, magnetic drug targeting, magnetic hyperthermia, photodynamic therapy, and photothermal therapy. In answer to magnetothermal characteristics and magnetic targeting of nanocarriers to preferred sites, magnetostrictive nanostructures have been created through different channels and discovered as novel candidates for in vivo imaging, diagnostic, and therapeutic molecules (in chemotherapeutics, radiotherapeutics, biotherapeutics, and immunotherapeutics, as well as thermal ablation). The approval process must be managed in relation to the production of magnetic nanocarriers and MNPs with cytotoxicity for extensive clinical trials.
