Amphiphilic Janus nanoparticles for image-guided cancer treatment: cell internalization mechanism, molecular action, challenges, and outlook

Cancer is recognized as one of the most fatal diseases across the globe. It accounts for approximately 10 million deaths in 2022, while these statistics are even more alarming for low-income countries due to restricted medical facilities for diagnosis and treatment. The application of conventional treatments, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery, causes adverse side effects by damaging healthy cells and inducing drug resistance. Therefore, these treatments are increasingly approached with caution by medical practitioners and clinicians, who are actively seeking safer and more effective alternatives. The advent of nanotechnology has opened new opportunities where multifunctional nanoscale components can be integrated to fabricate hybrid nanostructures. Structures such as Janus nanoparticles (JNPs) hold significant promise in cancer imaging and drug delivery applications. JNPs provide novel opportunities for the formation of multidrug nanosystems or combinations of tracking and therapeutic moieties for cancer treatment. This review discusses the latest studies on amphiphilic JNPs and further describes the mechanisms that are followed to internalize and exert their function against cancer. Various challenges in the synthesis and use of JNPs are also highlighted in addition to the prospects, indicating options for cancer treatment in pre-clinical and clinical applications.