Dear Colleagues,

The concepts of precision medicine and personalized medicine imply the need to specifically reach the target site, avoiding side effects, and to personalize the monitoring of patients and their treatment. These new approaches are the direct consequence of a growing knowledge of the molecular-biological dynamics that underlie the pathogenesis of complex diseases, such as cancer. In parallel, the scientific panorama also highlights improvements in the field of nanotechnologies aimed at the realization of more effective drug delivery systems and the miniaturization of entire analytical processes. Nanomedicine can play an essential role in the precision medicine field. Indeed, by exploiting the classical EPR effect or using targeted strategies, nanoparticles can significantly increase drug accumulation within the tumor tissues compared to free drugs, thus avoiding or minimizing systemic side effects. Moreover, the possibility of labeling nanocarriers with dyes or contrast agents for routinely used clinical imaging techniques gave rise to theranostics, a combination of therapy and diagnostics. As such, nanoparticles could also be used to follow up the treatment, besides the disease itself. All these efforts require a therapeutic approach better tailored to achieving real personalized medicine. In this context, the concept of liquid biopsy (LB) appears as the translational tool that responds to the conditions of non-invasiveness and repeatability that are fundamental to guarantee patient monitoring. At the same time, the availability of circulating biomarkers as harbingers of information coming directly from the tumour or pathological tissue of interest offers the opportunity to obtain important insights. These biomarkers can then be characterized via the most advanced mono or multiparametric nanotechnological platforms, Raman, surfaces made with biocompatible materials or functionalized with dedicated protocols, improving the sensibility of such analyses.

In this Special Issue, we would like to collect reviews, original researcher, case reports, and proofs of concept, presenting the novel theranostics tools at our disposal and promoting our understanding of the functional complexity of circulating biomarkers using a multidisciplinary medical, biological, and, above all, nanotechnological approach.

This Special Issue, entitled "Nanotechnology for precision medicine applications in cancers and other complex diseases", aims to be an opportunity for all researchers involved in this fascinating field of research, and we take the opportunity to thank all of them who want to give their unique contribution and dedication to improving knowledge in this field.

Prof. Dr. Natalia Malara
Dr. Maria Laura Coluccio
Dr. Daniele Di Mascolo
Guest Editors

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• circulating biomarkers
• biomaterials
• circulating exosomes
• cf-RNAkeyword
• cf-DNA
• platelets
• circulating tumor cells
• microfluidic platform
• device
• translational medicine
• nanotechnological tools
• functionalized surface
• Raman spectroscopy