Analysis of Specific Nanoparticles in Colorectal Cancer Therapeutics and Diagnostic Techniques

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a form of cancer that commonly develops in the sigmoid colon, leading directly to the rectum. CRC is the 2nd leading cancer in terms of death globally and the risk of development increases with age. In terms of detection of the disease, many patients with CRC are diagnosed in either stage 3 or 4, leading their treatment options to be fairly limited. Currently, a few options for diagnosis exist, such as the fecal occult blood test (FOBT), however, there are limitations to these techniques such as FOBT lacking the sensitivity to identify precancerous polyps that haven’t caused significant bleeding and endoscopy being very invasive and expensive. There are also certain trade offs present within current treatments for CRC, such as colectomy, however, it’s highly invasive and risky due to the removal of the colon partially or completely. (Lavy et al., 2015) Additionally, chemotherapy drugs such as irinotecan are utilized in combating CRC, however, though they are effective they are highly non-specific and emit toxicity to non-cancerous cells too. For this reason, nanotechnology and nanoparticles are significant to consider and study further as they allow for more accurate diagnosis and more specific chemotherapy, allowing for less excessive toxicity. Nanoparticles have been researched globally by various researchers and utilized in colorectal cancer treatment as well. (Gogoi et al., 2022) This review covers the implementation of specific nanoparticles as diagnostic devices and therapeutic enhancers for CRC and its specific implications for specific patients. (Duan et al., 2022)