Chemoradiotherapy of human tumors: Novel approaches from nanomedicine

Chemoradiotherapy is an important treatment paradigm in oncology and is part of the curative treatment for many solid cancers, such as lung, pancreatic and cervical cancers. One of the main goals in oncology research is to develop approaches that can improve the efficacy of chemoradiotherapy while minimizing treatment toxicity. A new and exciting approach is to incorporate advances in nanomedicine into chemoradiotherapy. Nanoparticles possess unique properties, such as preferential accumulation in tumors and minimal uptake in normal tissues, that make them ideally suited for delivering chemotherapy in chemoradiotherapy. In this review, we plan to discuss the rationale and evidence for applying nanomedicine to chemoradiotherapy.