Over the past two decades, multidisciplinary investigations into the development of nanoparticles for medical applications have continually increased. However, nanoparticles are still subject to biological barriers and biodistribution challenges, which limit their overall clinical potential. This has motivated the implementation of innovational modifications to a range of nanoparticle formulations designed for cancer imaging and/or cancer treatment to overcome specific barriers and shift the accumulation of payloads toward the diseased tissues. In recent years, novel technological and chemical approaches have been employed to modify or functionalize the surface of nanoparticles or manipulate the characteristics of nanoparticles. Combining these approaches with the identification of critical biomarkers provides new strategies for enhancing nanoparticle specificity for both cancer diagnostic and therapeutic applications. This review discusses the most recent advances in the design and engineering of nanoparticles as well as future directions for developing the next generation of nanomedicines.

在过去的二十年中，对用于医学应用的纳米粒子开发的多学科研究不断增加。然而，纳米粒子仍然受到生物屏障和生物分布挑战的影响，这限制了它们的整体临床潜力。这促使对一系列专为癌症成像和/或癌症治疗而设计的纳米颗粒制剂进行创新性修改，以克服特定障碍并将有效载荷的积累转移到患病组织。近年来，已经采用新技术和化学方法来修饰或功能化纳米粒子的表面或操纵纳米粒子的特性。将这些方法与关键生物标志物的鉴定相结合，为增强纳米粒子在癌症诊断和治疗应用中的特异性提供了新的策略。这篇综述讨论了纳米粒子设计和工程的最新进展，以及开发下一代纳米药物的未来方向。