Chapter 14 - Nanotechnology in targeted drug delivery and therapeutics

Nanotechnology has countless applications in different fields. In health and biomedical areas, it can be used in drug delivery and therapeutics. Nanocarriers are used in nanotechnology for targeted, triggered, and controlled delivery of drugs or other therapeutic molecules. This chapter describes and compares the existing nanocarriers used to deliver therapeutic molecules, and discusses their potential in the treatment of several diseases. Different targeting strategies (active or passive) and conjugation methods are also overviewed. The advantages and disadvantages for each delivery system are presented, and the advances that are being made to overcome the obstacles toward a clinical impact are discussed.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and under the scope of the Project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/ 2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462). The authors also acknowledge financial support from BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. D. Ferreira is recipient of a fellowship (UMINHO/BD/21/2016) supported by a doctoral advanced training (call NORTE-69-2015-15) funded by the European Social Fund under the scope of Norte2020. J. L. Rodrigues acknowledges the post-doctoral grant (UMINHO/BPD/37/2015) funded by FCT.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio