Application of Nano-Drug Delivery Systems in Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment

Lung cancer remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality, highlighting the urgent need for innovative approaches to improve diagnosis and treatment outcomes. Nano-drug delivery systems (NDDSs) exhibit high surface-to-volume ratios, superparamagnetic characteristics, and distinct optical properties, which can be modified by altering their dimensions, geometries, chemical compositions, and surface functional groups, so NDDSs can be utilized for biomolecule detection and enable targeted drug delivery to tumors for enhancing anti-tumor activity, thereby showing great potential in lung cancer diagnosis and treatment. This review examines how NDDSs can enhance in vivo imaging using CT, MRI, PET, and multimodal imaging, as well as in vitro imaging, for the diagnosis of lung cancer. It further highlights the contribution of NDDSs to optimize conventional treatments in lung cancer, including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy by improving drug targeting, reducing side effects, and helping to overcome treatment resistance. In addition, NDDSs can assist combination therapy, enhance gene stability, and deliver natural bioactive compounds in currently investigated therapeutic strategies. Therefore, NDDSs offer innovative approaches for lung cancer diagnosis and treatment, with the potential to significantly improve survival rates in lung cancer patients. SUMMARY: Nano-drug delivery systems (NDDSs) can improve the accuracy of lung cancer diagnosis through enhanced imaging and biomarker targeting. NDDSs optimize conventional therapies by improving drug targeting, reducing side effects, and helping to overcome treatment resistance. NDDS-based platforms support combination therapies and personalized medicine approaches in lung cancer management.