Quantum Dots in Drug Delivery: A New Era of Precision Medicine

Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor nanocrystals that are quickly emerging as potentially useful biomedical technologies as a result of their unique optical and physicochemical properties. QDs may be an ideal route for drug delivery due to their multitude of advantageous and unprecedented properties, such as Tenable emission spectra, high brightness, photostable behaviour, and thermostatic potential (imaging and therapy through the same vehicle). Also, QDs may provide the benefit of being nanoscale, which is an advantage for cellular uptake and targeted delivery within the cell at a particular area. QDs have the ability to be readily surface modified and conjugated to specific ligands, antibodies, and/or therapeutic agents. When put together with a multifunctional drug delivery vehicle, QDs may provide ever more localized effects and less systemic toxicities overall. Advancements in QD development, including synthesis, surface modification and biocompatibility may move forward QDs in personalized medicine to enable real time drug distribution, release and therapeutic response testing. While there are certainly concerns with toxicity and biodegradability for QDs and QD systems, advancements in biocompatibility and carbon-based QDs may alleviate some of these issues. This review will provide an overview of the current developments, potential applications and future possibilities for QDs drug delivery systems and their potential to serve as a disruptive technology in personalized and precision medicine.