Early Nanomedicine Versus Cancer
Early nanomedicine means the practical results of better nanoscale engineering, as opposed to medical nanorobots; the foundations for that advanced technology are still being planned and laid. From the Motley Fool, a look at how near term nanotechnology trends apply to the defeat of cancer: "In war, an ideal solution would be to have a 'smart' platform that could both detect and then eradicate an enemy. The same is true with cancer. And this leads us to perhaps the most significant nanotechnology-related development in the war on cancer: the creation of nanoscale devices that can both image cancer and then effectively deliver drug therapies. Essentially, the promise is to manufacture 'smart' devices that can detect unique cancer cells and deliver a drug molecule (or a more potent combination of different drug molecules) directly into the cancer cells. One such platform now under development is a dendrimer, and it is now being pursued by a couple of different companies."
Link: http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/2006/commentary06102726.htm