Pancreatic Cancer Treatment by Using Theragnostic Nanoparticles

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is becoming a major cause of cancer death and is difficult to treat due to poor detection and late-stage diagnosis. However, various approaches have been implemented for the detection of PC at an early stage. Apart from this several chemotherapeutic drugs are suggested for patients diagnosed with PC but their applications are restricted due to systemic toxicity due to long-term usage. Nanotechnology-based therapeutic approaches have gained significant importance in both early-stage detection and targeted drug delivery in PC therapy. The nanoparticles assist in the sustained and targeted release of a drug regimen to cancer/tumor-specific sites rather than affecting healthy cells, leading to negligible or no toxicity. In this chapter, we have highlighted the significant role of various PC-specific receptors, the mechanism of nanocarrier accumulation in carcinogenic cells, biomarkers in PC diagnosis, and the role of nanocarriers in theranostic applications in the PC microenvironment.