Advanced Nanotechnology for Precision Theranostics of Cancer Stem Cells

Abstract Cancer stem cells (CSCs) represent a minor subpopulation of tumor cells located in deep tumor regions, which play pivotal roles in driving malignant progression, chemoresistance, and tumor recurrence. However, conventional CSC theranostic approaches suffer from insufficient targeting accuracy, limited tissue penetration capacity, and poor integration of diagnostic and therapeutic functions, which severely restrict their clinical outcomes. Accordingly, the development of highly specific and multifunctional nanoplatforms is urgently needed. On the one hand, advanced nanotechnology permits the efficient capture, enrichment and signal amplification of CSCs, thus significantly improving detection sensitivity, reducing the detection limit, and facilitating early tumor diagnosis and prognostic evaluation. On the other hand, nanotechnology can achieve deep tumor penetration and precise targeted delivery toward CSCs, offering a robust therapeutic strategy for eradicating tumors and preventing recurrence. In this review, we systematically summarize the biological characteristics of CSCs, elaborate the advanced nanotechnology-mediated strategies for precise enrichment and detection of CSCs, and lay a theoretical basis for the design of CSC-specific targeted nanotherapeutics. Furthermore, we discuss the key challenges for the clinical translation of CSC-oriented nanotheranostics, and anticipate that nanotechnology will bring promising advances for CSC-targeted cancer theranostics.