Nanotechnology: development of nanotools to counteract human diseases

Recent advances in technology and engineering have led to the application of nanotechnology in medicine with the development of new nanoscale biomedical systems. Despite the still limited results on the non-toxic effect of nanomaterials, the main step before any biological application is represented by their safety assessment. For these reasons, scientists are researching new less toxic nanotools for new diagnostic strategies. In this context, the research work consists of three parts that include several innovative nanotechnology applications to counteract three types of serious human diseases. At first, a critical review has been performed to understand how nanotechnology has helped the fight of breast cancer in the last nine years. It was highlighted that the purpose of scientists is to identify new nanomaterials that can be tolerated by biological environments displaying no toxic effects and their biocompatibility on cells. Moreover, in the first part of this work, a novel material with nano-mineralization is presented as a bone regeneration application to counteract the bone loss dysfunction under microgravity simulation. In the second part, a novel nanomaterial is presented as an anti-malarial application in order to evaluate its anti-protozoal activity. Data collected in vitro open a new path for further studies to investigate the potential of these nanomaterials as a possible new nanotechnological strategy against bone loss dysfunction and malaria diseases.