Multifunctional nanocarriers and intracellular drug delivery

Multifunctional nanocarriers for the delivery and targeting of therapeutic and diagnostic agents in cancer therapy have received significantly increased interest in recent years. Several multifunctional nanocarriers engineered from a wide range of materials with consolidation of various functionalities for long circulation, targetability, stimuli-sensitivity, intracellular delivery for therapy and imaging have been shown to be capable of killing the desired target diseased cells with minimal side effects to provide enhanced contrast during imaging for disease location and monitor both the fate of the nanocarrier and treatment in real time. This review highlights recent advances in the design and engineering of multifunctional nanocarriers, along with the importance of intracellular delivery. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.