id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
cord-001060-9g8rwsm1	Arruebo, Manuel	Assessment of the Evolution of Cancer Treatment Therapies	2011-08-12		.txt	text/plain	10511	488	34	These therapies can be used in isolation or in combination with other cancer treatments, thereby taking advantage of their ability to target tumors (actively or passively), to respond to physical or chemical stimulation (internal or external) and to deliver therapeutic genes to the cell nuclei. Compared to conventional therapies, nanoparticles show six clear advantages in cancer treatment and/or diagnosis: (1) they can be synthesized in specific sizes and with surface characteristics to penetrate tumors by taking advantage of the enhanced permeation and retention effect (EPR) (a mechanism known as passive targeting); (2) they can be engineered to target tumor cells by surface functionalization with biomolecules that attach to tumor-specific cell markers (a mechanism known as active targeting); (3) they can be engineered to penetrate cells and physiological barriers (e.g., blood-brain barrier, blood-retinal barrier); (4) they can increase the plasma half-life of carried chemotherapeutic drugs, which are usually highly hydrophobic; (5) they can protect a therapeutic payload from biological degradation; and (6) they can be synthesized as multifunctional platforms for combined imaging and therapeutic applications (theragnostic nanoparticles).	./cache/cord-001060-9g8rwsm1.txt	./txt/cord-001060-9g8rwsm1.txt