Metal-based nanosystems for diagnosis

The impressive diversity related to etiologic factors and the distinctive genetic and immunological behavior attained by various conditions represent the fundamental reasons for high-rated inefficient and eventual hazardous strategies entailed by conventional healthcare practice. Thanks to the tremendous progress reported in nanotechnology during the last decades, various unconventional and promising strategies have been successfully developed and examined with respect to potential genuine biomedical applications. Given the amazing possibility to manipulate matter at a molecular and atomic level and the incessant need to design and implement personalized therapies, various nanosized systems have thus been engineered. Among the newly developed nanomaterials, metallic nanoparticles have gain attention during the intense biomedical research activity, thanks to their peculiar size-conditioned properties. An efficient therapeutic strategy begins with an accurate diagnosis result, so the immediate requirement of such specific detection tools is conspicuous. The use of silver and gold in day-to-day activities is acknowledged since ancient times, but the novel technological opportunities extended their particular applications towards personalized medicine. It is worthy to mention that the unexpected nanodimension-related features of the aforementioned noble metals strongly recommend them for a large number of current applications in nanomedicine, including novel and specific metallic nanostructures used in diagnostics.