nanomedicine

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the application of nanotechnology to medicine, encompassing the use of nanoscale materials, devices, and systems for drug delivery, diagnostic imaging, biosensing, tissue engineering, and therapeutic intervention at the cellular and molecular level; nanomedicine exploits the unique properties of engineered nanoparticles — including their ability to navigate biological barriers, accumulate in diseased tissue through the enhanced permeability and retention effect in tumours, be functionalised with targeting ligands, and release drug cargo in response to local stimuli — to achieve therapeutic precision unattainable by conventional pharmacological approaches; approved nanomedicines include liposomal doxorubicin for cancer, albumin-bound paclitaxel nanoparticles, and the lipid nanoparticle formulations used to deliver mRNA in COVID-19 vaccines; current research focuses on stimuli-responsive nanocarriers, theranostic particles combining therapy and diagnostics, and immunomodulatory nanomaterials

Examples

• Lipid nanoparticle nanomedicine platforms enabled the rapid development and deployment of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
• Nanomedicine researchers are developing iron oxide nanoparticles that can simultaneously image and treat metastatic cancer.