Correspondence Address:
Upendra Nagaich
Editor, Journal of Advanced Pharmaceutical Technology and Research (JAPTR), Editor-in-Chief, SPER Times Secretary, Society of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, 22-C, Jawahar Colony, Gwalior - 474 001, M.P.
India

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Dear Friends,

Theranostics is a novel grade of pharmaceuticals, which principally involves therapy andl diagnosis of the disease state prior to its symptoms get detectable in the human body. Factually, this term was coined in clinics to develop more specific, personalized therapies for several diseases, and to amalgamate diagnostics and therapeutic potential into a single agent. It's a coalition of two terms, that is, therapy and diagnostics. Nanotechnology (science deals with objects at nanoscale (<100 nm)) can permit the combination of therapy and diagnosis on single particles. Diagnostics deals with nanotechnology-on-a-chip, which is a part of lab-on-a-chip technology. Lab-on-a-chip technology represents the devices, which assimilate various laboratory functions on a single chip. The rationale for this novel discovery arose from the fact that diseases, such as cancers, are extremely heterogeneous, and all accessible treatments are effective for only limited patient subpopulations and at discriminatory stages of disease development. Targeting approaches can differ hugely to suit the desired targets. As in the case of cancer, it is a common strategy to recognize a biomarker that is atypically expressed on the surface of cancer cells, and then to charge its cognate binding vector onto probes/carriers to achieve recognition and tumor homing. Numerous nanocarriers such as iron oxide nanoparticles, quantum dots, gold nanoparticles, carbon nanotube and silica nanoparticles have been loaded with both therapeutic and diagnostic agent to produce a potential theranostic nanomedicine. In spite of fast progressions, no nanoparticle theranostics has been developed to comply with the clinical standards. Having lots of advantages, several disadvantages needs to be overcome, which includes toxicity of quantum dots, cost of nanoparticles, nonbiodegradable nature of carbon nanotube. To achieve and validate nanoscale integration of imaging and therapeutic functions, it is noteworthy to show advantages of such a combined approach. Theoretically, a nanoparticle-based theranostic agent can release therapeutics to a diseased area and can utilize its imaging function to make better diagnosis and to supervise therapeutic response. Regardless of the assurity, the allied evidences are so far insufficient and should be the spotlight of the subsequent phases of research and analysis.