Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Nanomaterials in Drug Delivery: Strengths and Opportunities in Medicine

This review covers how nanomaterials are being used to improve drug delivery for treating cancer and infections, offering better targeted therapy with fewer side effects. While not directly about microplastics, the research on how nanoparticles interact with human tissues provides insight into how similarly sized nanoplastics might behave once inside the body.

2024 Molecules 84 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanotechnology in cancer treatment: revolutionizing strategies against drug resistance

This review explores how nanotechnology is being used to overcome drug resistance in cancer treatment, using materials like carbon nanotubes, dendrimers, and liposomes to deliver drugs more precisely to tumors. While not directly about microplastics, the nanomaterial strategies discussed share relevance with understanding how nano-sized plastic particles interact with human cells and tissues.

2025 Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology 31 citations
Article Tier 2

Emerging Trends in the Application of Green Synthesized Biocompatible ZnO Nanoparticles for Translational Paradigm in Cancer Therapy

This review covers zinc oxide nanoparticles synthesized using environmentally friendly methods and their potential applications in cancer treatment. While not directly about microplastics, the study addresses the broader concern of engineered nanomaterial safety and biocompatibility with human cells. Understanding nanoparticle toxicity is relevant to the microplastics field because nanoplastics share similar size ranges and raise comparable questions about how tiny particles interact with human tissues.

2023 Journal of Nanotheranostics 63 citations
Article Tier 2

The micro(nano)plastics perspective: exploring cancer development and therapy

This review explores the emerging link between microplastics and cancer development. Microplastics can trigger chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and hormone disruption, all of which are known pathways that may promote cancer growth. Interestingly, researchers are also studying whether engineered microplastics could be used as drug carriers for cancer therapy, though long-term effects remain unclear.

2025 Molecular Cancer 52 citations
Article Tier 2

The Relationship Between Microplastics and Nanoplastics with Cancer: An Emerging Health Concern

This review explores the emerging relationship between micro- and nanoplastic exposure and cancer risk in humans. Researchers summarized evidence suggesting that microplastics can carry carcinogenic substances and may trigger inflammatory and oxidative stress pathways linked to tumor development. The study highlights that while early evidence raises concern, more research is needed to establish clear causal connections between plastic particle exposure and specific cancer types.

2024 International Journal of Hematology and Oncology 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Advances in Drug Targeting, Drug Delivery, and Nanotechnology Applications: Therapeutic Significance in Cancer Treatment

This review covers advances in targeted drug delivery using nanotechnology, including nanoparticles and liposomes designed to release medications precisely where needed in the body. While focused on cancer treatment, the drug delivery technologies discussed are relevant to understanding how nanoscale plastic particles may also travel through the body and accumulate in specific tissues.

2025 Pharmaceutics 36 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

From Exposure to Oncogenesis: the Role of Microplastics and Associated Pollutants in Cancer - a Literature Review

This literature review examined the growing evidence linking microplastic exposure to cancer development. Microplastics have been found in human lung, liver, and colon tissue, and research suggests they may promote cancer through chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and by carrying known carcinogens like heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants into the body.

2025 International Journal of Innovative Technologies in Social Science
Article Tier 2

Breaking Barriers in Eco-Friendly Synthesis of Plant-Mediated Metal/Metal Oxide/Bimetallic Nanoparticles: Antibacterial, Anticancer, Mechanism Elucidation, and Versatile Utilizations

This review covers how plant extracts can be used to create metal nanoparticles in an environmentally friendly way, replacing toxic chemical manufacturing methods. While focused on nanoparticle synthesis rather than microplastics, these green manufacturing approaches could reduce reliance on synthetic plastic-based materials in biomedical and industrial applications.

2024 Journal of Nanomaterials 50 citations
Article Tier 2

Magnetic Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Characterization, and Their Use in Biomedical Field

This review covers the synthesis, properties, and biomedical uses of magnetic nanoparticles for applications like drug delivery, medical imaging, and cancer treatment. While not directly about microplastics, the same nanoparticle technologies discussed here are being adapted for environmental cleanup, including the removal of microplastics from water. The paper serves as a useful reference for understanding the nanotechnology tools that could help address microplastic pollution.

2024 Applied Sciences 102 citations
Article Tier 2

Metal-Based Nanoparticles: Antibacterial Mechanisms and Biomedical Application

This review examines how metal-based nanoparticles kill bacteria and their potential use as alternatives to antibiotics in medicine. While not about microplastics directly, the antibacterial mechanisms described are relevant because microplastics in the environment can carry both metal nanoparticles and bacteria on their surfaces. Understanding these interactions helps explain how microplastics may influence the spread or suppression of harmful bacteria in the environment.

2022 Microorganisms 291 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxicity of metal-based nanoparticles: Challenges in the nano era

This review covers the toxic effects of metal-based nanoparticles on human health, including how they cause oxidative stress, inflammation, DNA damage, and organ dysfunction. While focused on engineered nanoparticles rather than microplastics directly, the toxicity pathways described overlap significantly with those triggered by nanoplastic exposure. Understanding these shared mechanisms helps explain how nano-scale particles of any kind, including nanoplastics, may harm the body.

2022 Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology 286 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Contamination: A Rising Environmental Crisis With Potential Oncogenic Implications

This review examines how microplastics detected in human tissues — blood, placenta, and organs — may act as vectors for carcinogens, including adsorbed heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants, and discusses emerging evidence linking MP accumulation to oncogenic processes.

2025 Cureus
Article Tier 2

The quest for nanoparticle-powered vaccines in cancer immunotherapy

This review explores how nanoparticles are being developed as cancer vaccine delivery systems to train the immune system to fight tumors more effectively. While focused on cancer immunotherapy rather than microplastics, the research highlights that understanding how nanoparticles interact with the immune system is crucial -- the same principles apply to understanding how nanoplastics may affect immune responses in the body.

2024 Journal of Nanobiotechnology 46 citations
Article Tier 2

Evaluating the relationship between microplastics and nanoplastics contamination and diverse cancer types development

This review examines growing evidence that micro- and nanoplastics found in human tissues may contribute to cancer development through several pathways. These tiny particles can generate harmful molecules called reactive oxygen species, cause chronic inflammation, and disrupt cell growth signals, all of which are known to promote cancer. While long-term, high-level exposure likely poses the greatest risk, more research is needed to understand the full cancer-related dangers of microplastic exposure.

2025 Environmental Pollution 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Cancer Progression: Biology and Public Health

This review examines emerging evidence that microplastics and nanoplastics may contribute to cancer-related processes by crossing biological barriers and accumulating in tissues. The study highlights that these particles can cause oxidative stress, inflammation, DNA damage, and barrier dysfunction at the cellular level, and may promote tumor-supporting processes including angiogenesis and immune evasion.

2025 Biomedicines 1 citations
Article Tier 2

The Influence of Supplementation with Zinc in Micro and Nano Forms on the Metabolism of Fatty Acids in Livers of Rats with Breast Cancer.

This study investigated the effects of zinc nano- and microparticles as dietary supplements on fatty acid metabolism in rats with breast cancer. This pharmacology study focuses on zinc supplementation and cancer biochemistry, with no direct relevance to environmental microplastics.

2021 Nutrients
Article Tier 2

Microscopic menace: exploring the link between microplastics and cancer pathogenesis

This review examines the growing evidence linking microplastic exposure to cancer development in humans. Microplastics can accumulate in the body and trigger inflammation, oxidative stress, and other biological changes associated with tumor growth. While more clinical research is needed, the review highlights that microplastics should be taken seriously as a potential factor in cancer risk.

2025 Environmental Science Processes & Impacts 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and cancer

This review examines evidence linking microplastics to cancer risk, noting that microplastics have been detected at higher concentrations in human tumor tissues than adjacent healthy tissue, and that they can act as vectors for carcinogens while inducing oxidative stress, inflammation, and genotoxicity.

2025 European Journal of Cancer Prevention
Article Tier 2

Tumorigenic and tumoricidal properties of exosomes in cancers; a forward look

This review explores how tiny cell-released vesicles called exosomes can either promote or fight cancer by transferring signaling molecules between cells. While not directly about microplastics, the research is relevant because nanoplastics are similar in size to exosomes and may interfere with these important cell communication pathways. Understanding how nanoscale particles affect cell signaling could help explain some of the biological effects of nanoplastic exposure.

2024 Cell Communication and Signaling 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoparticles for Biomedical Science and Research

This overview reviews nanoparticles—clusters of atoms ranging 1–100 nm—for biomedical science and research applications, covering their compositions, environmental burden, and the distinct challenges posed by plastic-derived nanoplastics compared to engineered nanoparticles.

2025 Asian Journal of Physical and Chemical Sciences
Clinical Trial Tier 1

How to Treat Melanoma? The Current Status of Innovative Nanotechnological Strategies and the Role of Minimally Invasive Approaches like PTT and PDT

This review summarizes advances in nanotechnology-based treatments for melanoma, including photothermal and photodynamic therapies using engineered nanoparticles as drug carriers and light absorbents. While nanoparticle-based therapies show promise for improving treatment outcomes, the environmental fate of these engineered nanomaterials remains a concern, as nanoparticles can behave similarly to microplastics when released into ecosystems.

2022 Pharmaceutics 35 citations
Article Tier 2

The hidden poison - microplastic : Inflammatory catalyst of cancer development

This review discusses how microplastics act as inflammatory agents within biological tissues, summarizing evidence that ingested and inhaled microplastics can trigger oxidative stress, immune responses, and chronic inflammation in humans and animals.

2024 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL PLANT SCIENCES
Systematic Review Tier 1

An updated systematic review about various effects of microplastics on cancer: A pharmacological and in-silico based analysis

This systematic review with in-silico analysis found that microplastics have both tumor-promoting and tumor-suppressing effects on cancer cells, affecting viability, migration, metastasis, and apoptosis. The study identified key proteins (AP2M1, ASGR2, BI-1, Ferritin Heavy Chain) involved in microplastic-mediated cancer progression and used computational modeling to identify existing drugs that might counteract these pathways.

2025 Molecular Aspects of Medicine 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Contribution of Cancer-Specific Protein Coronas to the Pro-Tumor Effects of Nanoplastics through Enhanced Cellular Interactions

Researchers investigated how nanoplastics interact with blood proteins to form a protein coating that changes how the particles behave around cancer cells. They found that this protein coating enhanced the uptake of nanoplastics by cancer cells and could promote tumor-related behaviors. The study raises important questions about whether nanoplastic exposure could influence cancer progression through these protein-mediated interactions.

2024 ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 6 citations