Nanotheranostics, an approach of combining both diagnosis and therapy, is one of the latest advances
in cancer therapy particularly. Nanocarriers designed and derived from inorganic materials such as like gold
nanoparticles, silica nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes have been explored for tremendous
applications in this area. Similarly, nanoparticles composed of some organic material alone or in combination
with inorganic nano-cargos have been developed pre-clinically and possess excellent features desired. Photothermal
therapy, MRI, simultaneous imaging and delivery, and combination chemotherapy with a diagnosis are a
few of the known methods exploring cancer therapy and detection at organ/tissue/molecular/sub-cellular level.
This review comprises an overview of the recent reports meant for nano theranostics purposes. Targeted cancer
nanotheranostics have been included for understating tumor micro-environment or cell-specific targeting approach
employed. A brief account of various strategies is also included for the readers highlighting the mechanism
of cancer therapy.