Multifunctional Pharmaceutical Nanocarriers: Development of the Concept -- Multifunctional Polymeric Nanosystems for Tumor-Targeted Delivery -- Nanogels as Pharmaceutical Carriers -- Multifunctional Water-Soluble Polymers for Drug Delivery -- "Smart" pH-Responsive Carriers for Intracellular Delivery of Biomolecular Drugs -- Stimuli-Sensitive Nanosystems: For Drug and Gene Delivery -- Functionalized Dendrimers as Nanoscale Drug Carriers -- Biodegradable Multitargeting Nanoconjugates for Drug Delivery -- Pharmaceutical Micelles: Combining Longevity, Stability, and Stimuli Sensitivity -- Multifunctional Nanotherapeutics for Cancer -- Charge Modification of Pharmaceutical Nanocarriers: Biological Implications -- Funtionalization of Pharmaceutical Nanocarriers for Mitochondria-Targeted Drug and DNA Delivery -- Multifunctional Magnetic Nanosystems for Tumor Imaging, Targeted Delivery, and Thermal Medicine -- Nanosystems for Multimodality In vivo Imaging -- Long-Circulating Liposomes with Attached Diagnostic Moieties: Application for Gamma and MR Imaging.

Various pharmaceutical nanocarriers, such as nanospheres,nanocapsules, liposomes, micelles, cell ghosts, lipoproteins and some others are widely used for experimental (and already clinical) delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic agents. The use of nanoparticulate pharmaceutical carriers to enhance the in vivo efficiency of many drugs well established itself over the past decade both in pharmaceutical research and clinical setting. Looking into the future of the field of drug delivery, we have to think about the development of the next generation of pharmaceutical nanocarriers combining the whole variety of properties and allowing for the simultaneous performance of multiple functions. Surface modification of pharmaceutical carriers is often used to control their properties in a desirable fashion and make them to simultaneously perform several different functions. This book is all about these "futuristic" multifunctional medicines. Key features: -all chapters written by international leaders in the field -offers the most recent innovations and discoveries related to nanopharmaceuticals -detailed illustrations -latest volume in the Fundamental Biomedical Technologies series About the Editor: Vladimir P. Torchilin, Ph.D., D.Sc. is a Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Director, Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and Nanomedicine, Northeastern University, Boston, Mass.