The ins and outs of nanoparticle technology in neurodegenerative diseases and cancer.

As we enter the twenty-first century, several therapies based on using nanoparticles (NPs) ranging in size 1 - 1000 nm have been successfully brought to the clinic to treat cancer, pain and infectious diseases. These therapies bring together the ability of NPs to target the delivery of drugs more precisely, to improve solubility, to prevent degradation, to improve their therapeutic index and to reduce the immune response. NPs come in all shapes and sizes, designed specifically for biomedical applications such as solid lipid polymers, liposomes, dendrimers, nanogels, and quantum dots. These NPs offer many attractive characteristics such as biological stability and biocompatibility, thus incorporating different biological or drug molecules. Among the major therapeutic challenges from neurological diseases through to cancer is the development of nanomaterials that are able to be effective against the disease. In the case of neurodegeneration, one of the most difficult areas to penetrate for drug discovery in the body is the central nervous system, protected by the blood-brain-barrier. Whilst in the case of cancer, the biggest problem is how to specifically target a tumor with sufficient drug without causing side effects or inducing resistance. A new generation of intelligent NPs are emerging for the treatment of human disease such as neurological disorders and cancer. The use of natural alternative therapy is an encouraging idea in drug discovery. To this end as we gain more knowledge into the biological function of exosomes, this will allow us to harness their potential as natural NPs in future therapeutics.