In vitro Biological Tests as the First Tools to Validate Magnetic Nanotheranostics for Colorectal Cancer Models

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a leading cause of cancer death. Nanotechnology has focused on reaching more effective treatments. In this concern, magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) have been studied for a wide range of biomedical applications related to CRC, such as diagnostic imaging, drug delivery and thermal therapy. However, limited research is currently found in open literature referred to nanosystems combining all these mentioned areas (theranostics). When developing nanosystems intended as theranostics applied to CRC, the possible variations between patients must be considered. Therefore, multiple in vitro assays are required as guidance for future pre‐clinical and clinical trials. The objective of this contribution is to evaluate the available and recent literature regarding the interactions of MNP and CRC models, aiming to critically analyzing the information given by the commonly used assays, evaluating the data provided by each one, in view of the implementation of this novel technology in CRC diagnostic and therapy.