Theranostic Nanostructures for Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer (OC) has emerged as one of the leading causes of death in women due to the lack of early-stage diagnosis resulting in impairment and delay in treatment of malignancy, which raises the morality rate. Existing diagnostic (pelvic examination, CA125, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) or therapeutic modalities (radiotherapy, abdominal pelvic radiation therapy, and chemotherapy) are insufficient to decrease the 5-year survival rate. Nanoparticles (NPs) have been extensively explored as probes for imaging or therapy of cancer. As an extension of this, probes have been designed to possess both imaging and therapeutic modality in a single molecule and this has emerged as the science of nanotheranostics. This review presents the existing diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in use for OC and discusses their loopholes that limit the prognosis of OC. The review presents a general description of important properties of nanostructures and the type of nanostructures that have been used as imaging/therapeutic probe in cancer. The state-of-the-art nanotheranostics probe for targeting OC is presented. Systematic and complete studies that can correlate the findings of researchers from different global areas are lacking. The current status of nanostructures in various phases of clinical trials and those approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been presented. No specific targeted theranostic probe for OC has yet been approved by the FDA. Here, the underlying reasons and the challenges faced for nanotheranostics of OC are discussed, along with its future prospects.