Nanomaterials and Neoplasms: Towards Clinical Applications

Nanomaterials have the potential to shift the paradigm for the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases, especially neoplasms, because of the intriguing behaviors associated with their unique size-/shape-influenced chemical, physical, and physiological features. Currently, there is a huge imbalance between the several nanoplatforms reported in the literature and the few ones approved for clinical applications. This disequilibrium affects, in particular, plasmonic nanomaterials, which present no approved platforms and few candidates in clinical trials. This trend can be reversed by promoting collaborations among scientists from different fields as well as by improving the multidisciplinary background of researchers interested in this area.