Amphiphilic Janus Nanoparticles for Image-Guided Cancer Treatment: Cell Internalization Mechanism, Molecular Action, Challenges, and Outlook

Abstract

Cancer is recognized as one of the most fatal diseases across the globe. It accounted approximately 10 million deaths in 2022 while these statistics are even more alarming for low-income countries due to the restricted medical facilities for diagnosis and treatment. The application of conventional treatments including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery cause adverse side effects by damaging the healthy cells and inducing the drug resistance. Therefore, these treatments are not favored by medical practitioners and clinicians. The advent of nanotechnolsogy has opened new opportunities where multifunctional nanoscale components can be integrated to fabricate hybrid nanostructures. They can find applications in drug delivery and imaging of cancer. Examples of such structures are Janus nanoparticles (JNP). JNPs provide novel opportunities in the formation of multidrug nanosystems or combination of other therapeutic moieties for cancer treatment. This review discusses the latest studies of amphiphilic JNPs and further describes the mechanisms which are followed to internalize and exert their function against cancer. Various challenges in synthesis and use of JNPs are also highlighted in addition to the prospects, indicating options for cancer treatment in pre-clinical and clinical applications.