The Future of the Allergists and Specific Immunotherapy (FASIT) workshop provides a regular platform for global experts from academia, allergy clinics, regulatory authorities and industry to review developments in the field of allergen immunotherapy (AIT). The most recent meeting, held in February 2017, had two main themes: advances in AIT and hot topics in AIT from the regulatory point of view. The first theme covered opportunities for personalised AIT, advances in adjuvants and delivery systems, and the development of new molecules and future vaccines for AIT. Key topics in the second part of the meeting were the effects of the enactment of European Directive 2001/83 on the availability of allergens for therapy and diagnosis across the EU, the challenges of conducting Phase III studies in the field, the future role of allergen exposure chambers in AIT-studies, and specific considerations in performing AIT-studies in the paediatric population. Finally, the group highlighted the forthcoming EAACI guidelines and their particular importance for the standardisation of practice in the treatment of allergies. This supplement presents a comprehensive insight into those panel discussions and highlights unmet needs and also possible solutions to them for the future.
The current scenario of in vitro and in vivo diagnostics can be summarized using the "silo metaphor", where laboratory medicine, pathology and radiology are three conceptually separated diagnostic disciplines, which will increasingly share many comparable features. The substantial progresses in our understanding of biochemical-biological interplays that characterize many human diseases, coupled with extraordinary technical advances, are now generating important multidisciplinary convergences, leading the way to a new frontier, called integrated diagnostics. This new discipline, which is currently defined as convergence of imaging, pathology and laboratory tests with advanced information technology, has an enormous potential for revolutionizing diagnosis and therapeutic management of human diseases, including those causing the largest number of worldwide deaths (i.e. cardiovascular disease, cancer and infectious diseases). However, some important drawbacks should be overcome, mostly represented by insufficient information technology infrastructures, costs and enormous volume of different information that will be integrated and delivered. To overcome these hurdles, some specific strategies should be defined and implemented, such as planning major integration of exiting information systems or developing innovative ones, combining bioinformatics and imaging informatics, using health technology assessment for assessing cost and benefits, providing interpretative comments in integrated reports, developing and using expert systems and neural networks, overcoming cultural and political boundaries for generating multidisciplinary teams and integrated diagnostic algorithms.
Nanotechnology offers the potential for new approaches to detecting, treating and preventing cancer. To determine the current status of the cancer nanotechnology field and the optimal path forward, the National Cancer Institute's Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer held three strategic workshops, covering the areas of in-vitro diagnostics and prevention, therapy and post-treatment, and in-vivo diagnosis and imaging. At each of these meetings, a wide range of experts from academia, industry, the non-profit sector, and the Federal government discussed opportunities in the field of cancer nanotechnology and barriers to its implementation.
Diffuse optics studies the propagation of light in highly scattering media (e.g. biological tissues). Time-resolved techniques – which measure the time-of-flight distribution of photons in the medium – permit to separate the contribution of absorption (linked to chemical composition) from scattering (produced by microstructure). Furthermore, for increasing photon time-of-flight, larger tissue depths are reached. These two properties, combined with the intrinsic non-invasiveness of the technique, are very interesting for clinical applications, such as diagnosis of breast cancer, imaging of brain activity, monitoring the functional and metabolic state of biological tissues in depth. The technology has undergone impressive growth, moving from laboratory laser systems to miniature wearable devices. To grant the reliability of the information obtained in vivo, international collaboration is needed to set objective validation protocols, in view of a growing diffusion of the method, from clinical diagnostics to home care.
Accurate, timely, and sensitive diagnosis is the first step in appropriately treating disease. The development of diagnostics that can be used in non-hospital and point-of-care (PoC) settings is key for democratizing access to disease diagnosis and treatment when it is most effective. The application of PoC diagnostics in early disease detection is often limited due to insufficient sensitivity for the short time frames and limited resources available in these settings. To overcome these challenges, this thesis presents the synthesis, characterization, and application of catalytic nanomaterials for signal amplification and enhanced sensitivity in PoC diagnostic platforms. The nanomaterials developed here span a broad size regime from 1.5 nm clusters of atoms to 300 nm diameter particles and have been demonstrated for use in both in vitro and in vivo biosensing platforms. The platinum and gold nanomaterials exhibited robust and efficient peroxidase-like activity in their ability to oxidize chromogenic substrates in the presence of hydrogen peroxide to generate additional colored signals that could be used for amplification of disease detection, even after exposure to harsh conditions such as elevated temperatures. The larger catalytic nanomaterials were employed as extraordinarily stable and highly amplifying labels in a simple paper-based lateral flow assay (LFA). The nanocatalyst-labeled LFA surpassed the sensitivities of both commercial and published reports to date for paper-based detection of p24, one of the earliest and most conserved biomarkers of HIV. The smaller catalytic nanoclusters were efficiently renally cleared and were deployed in a modular nanosensor platform to monitor disease-associated protease activity in vivo. Catalytic activity of cleared gold nanoclusters in collected urine provided a simple, sensitive, and rapid colorimetric urinary readout of disease state. The clinical utility of both platforms presented here was investigated through detection of acute phase HIV in clinical human plasma samples using the nanocatalyst-labeled LFA, and successful non-invasive detection of tumors in a mouse model of colorectal cancer using the protease-nanosensors with colorimetric urinary readout. This thesis demonstrates the broad applicability and versatility of catalytic nanoparticle amplification for use in disease detection. A pipeline for further development of both sensing platforms for detection of other biomolecules at the PoC is presented. ; Open Access
The goal of the project VascuBone is to develop a tool box for bone regeneration, which on one hand fulfills basic requirements (e.g. biocompatibility, properties of the surface, strength of the biomaterials) and on the other hand is freely combinable with what is needed in the respective patient's situation. The tool box will include a variation of biocompatible biomaterials and cell types, FDA-approved growth factors, material modification technologies, simulation and analytical tools like molecular imaging-based in vivo diagnostics, which can be combined for the specific medical need. This tool box will be used to develop translational approaches for regenerative therapies of different types of bone defects. This project receives funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Program (VascuBone 2010). The present study is embedded into this EU project. The intention of this study is to assess the changes of the global gene expression patterns of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) after direct cell-cell contact as well as the influence of conditioned medium gained from MSCs on EPCs and vice versa. EPCs play an important role in postnatal vasculogenesis. An intact blood vessel system is crucial for all tissues, including bone. Latest findings in the field of bone fracture healing and repair by the use of tissue engineering constructs seeded with MSCs raised the idea of combining MSCs and EPCs to enhance vascularization and therefore support survival of the newly built bone tissue. RNA samples from both experimental set ups were hybridized on Affymetrix GeneChips® HG-U133 Plus 2.0 and analyzed by microarray technology. Bioinformatic analysis was applied to the microarray data and verified by RT-PCR. This study gives detailed information on how EPCs and MSCs communicate with each other and therefore gives insights into the signaling pathways of the musculoskeletal system. These insights will be the base for further functional studies on protein level for the purpose of tissue regeneration. A better understanding of the cell communication of MSCs and EPCs and subsequently the targeting of relevant factors opens a variety of new opportunities, especially in the field of tissue engineering. The second part of the present work was to develop an ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) for a target protein from the lists of differentially expressed genes revealed by the microarray analysis. This project was in cooperation with Immundiagnostik AG, Bensheim, Germany. The development of the ELISA aimed to have an in vitro diagnostic tool to monitor e.g. the quality of cell seeded tissue engineering constructs. The target protein chosen from the lists was klotho. Klotho seemed to be a very promising candidate since it is described in the literature as anti-aging protein. Furthermore, studies with klotho knock-out mice showed that these animals suffered from several age-related diseases e.g. osteoporosis and atherosclerosis. As a co-receptor for FGF23, klotho plays an important role in bone metabolism. The present study will be the first one to show that klotho is up-regulated in EPCs after direct cell-cell contact with MSCs. The development of an assay with a high sensitivity on one hand and the capacity to differentiate between secreted and shedded klotho on the other hand will allow further functional studies of this protein and offers a new opportunity in medical diagnostics especially in the field of metabolic bone disease. ; Das Ziel des durch die europäische Union geförderten Projekts VascuBone ist die Entwicklung einer tool box zur Knochenregeneration, die einerseits sämtliche Grundanforderungen erfüllt, beispielsweise an die Biokompatibilität, Oberflächenbeschaffenheit und Robustheit der Biomaterialien, und andererseits frei an den Bedarf der individuellen Patientensituation angepasst werden kann. Sie beinhaltet unterschiedlichste biokompatible Materialien und Zelltypen, FDA-zugelassene Wachstumsfaktoren, materialmodifizierende Technologien sowie Simulations- und analytische Werkzeuge, wie die auf molekularer Bildgebung basierende in-vivo-Diagnostik (MRI und PET/CT), die für den spezifischen medizinischen Bedarf kombiniert werden können. Die tool box wird für die Entwicklung translationaler Ansätze in der regenerativen Medizin für unterschiedliche Arten von Knochendefekten verwendet (VascuBone 2010). Eingebettet in dieses EU-Projekt sollten in der vorliegenden Arbeit die molekularen Grundlagen und Änderungen der globalen Genexpressionsmuster von endothelialen Vorläuferzellen (EPCs) und mesenchymalen Stammzellen (MSCs) nach direktem Zell-Zell-Kontakt sowie nach Gabe von konditioniertem Medium untersucht werden. EPCs spielen eine wichtige Rolle in der postnatalen Vaskulogenese. Ein intaktes Blutgefäßsystem ist überlebensnotwendig für alle Gewebe, einschließlich Knochen. Neueste Erkenntnisse in der Knochenheilung und -regeneration durch die Nutzung von Tissue-Engineering-Konstrukten, die mit MSCs besiedelt wurden, förderten die Idee, MSCs und EPCs zu kombinieren, um die Vaskularisierung – und somit das Überleben – des neu gebildeten Knochengewebes zu begünstigen. Die RNA-Proben aus beiden Versuchsansätzen wurden für die Microarray-Analysen auf Affymetrix GeneChips® HG-U133 Plus 2.0 hybridisiert. Die Array-Daten wurden bioinformatisch ausgewertet und mittels RT-PCR verifiziert. Die vorliegende Arbeit gibt detailliert Aufschluss darüber, wie MSCs und EPCs miteinander kommunizieren, und erlaubt somit wichtige Einblicke in Signalwege des muskuloskelettalen Systems. Dies wiederum ermöglicht weitere funktionelle Studien auf Proteinebene zum Zwecke der Geweberegeneration. Das bessere Verständnis der Zellkommunikation zwischen MSCs und EPCs und somit die gezielte Adressierung von relevanten Faktoren eröffnet völlig neue Möglichkeiten in der klinischen Anwendung, insbesondere im Bereich Tissue Engineering. Im zweiten Teil dieser Arbeit sollte in Kooperation mit der Firma Immundiagnostik AG, Bensheim, ein ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) aufgebaut werden. Ziel war es, für ein geeignetes Protein aus den zu erwartenden Listen regulierter Gene ein in-vitro-diagnostisches Nachweisverfahren zu entwickeln, das ggf. später als Qualitätsnachweis für erfolgreich besiedelte Tissue-Engineering-Konstrukte herangezogen werden könnte. Als geeigneter Kandidat wurde Klotho ausgewählt. Klotho gilt als anti-aging-Protein, da Klotho-knock-out-Mäuse alle alterstypischen Erkrankungen wie Osteoporose oder Arteriosklerose zeigen. Als Co-Rezeptor für FGF23 spielt Klotho außerdem eine wichtige Rolle im Knochenstoffwechsel. Diese Studie ist die erste, die zeigt, dass in EPCs nach direktem Zell-Zell-Kontakt mit MSCs Klotho hochreguliert wird. Die Entwicklung eines sensitiven und differenzierten Nachweises von sezerniertem Klotho sowie der von der Membran proteolytisch abgespaltenen Form von Klotho, eröffnet völlig neue Möglichkeiten in der klinischen Diagnostik, insbesondere im Bereich der Knochenstoffwechselerkrankungen
There has been an increasing interest and emphasis on the sessile bacterial lifestyle biofilms since it was discovered that the vast majority of the total microbial biomass exists as biofilms. Leeuwenhoek first described the aggregation of bacteria in 1677, but it was only recently recognized as being important in chronic infection. In 1993, the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) recognized that the biofilm mode of growth was relevant to microbiology. This book covers both the evidence for biofilms in many chronic bacterial infections as well as the problems facing these infections such as diagnostics, pathogenesis, treatment regimes, and in vitro and in vivo models for studying biofilms. This is the first scientific book on biofilm infections, with chapters written by world- renowned scientists and clinicians. The intended audience of this book includes scientists, teachers at the university level, as well as clinicians. About the Editors: Thomas Bjarnsholt, Ph. D., Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark Peter Oestrup Jensen, Dept. of Clinical Microbiology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark Claus Moser, Ph. D., Dept. of Clinical Microbiology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark Niels Hoeby, Dept. of Clinical Microbiology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
This is the final version of the article. Available from Frontiers Media via the DOI in this record. ; Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a life-threatening lung disease of immuno-compromised humans caused by the ubiquitous environmental mould Aspergillus. Biomarker tests for the disease lack sensitivity and specificity, and culture of the fungus from invasive lung biopsy is slow, insensitive, and undesirable in critically ill patients. A Computed Tomogram (CT) of the chest offers a simple non-intrusive diagnostic procedure for rapid decision-making, and so is used in many haematology units to drive antifungal treatment. However, radiological indicators that raise the suspicion of IPA are either transient signs in the early stages of the disease, or are not specific for Aspergillus infection, with other angio-invasive moulds or bacterial pathogens producing comparable radiological manifestations in a chest CT. Improvements to the specificity of radiographic imaging of IPA have been attempted by coupling CT and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) with [18F]FDG, a marker of metabolic activity well-suited to cancer imaging, but with limited use in invasive fungal disease diagnostics due to its inability to differentiate between infectious etiologies, cancer, and inflammation. Bioluminescence imaging using single genetically modified strains of Aspergillus fumigatus has enabled in vivo monitoring of IPA in animal models of disease. For in vivo detection of Aspergillus lung infections in humans, radiolabelled Aspergillus-specific monoclonal antibodies, and iron siderophores, hold enormous potential for clinical diagnosis. This review examines the different experimental technologies used to image IPA, and recent advances in state-of-the-art molecular imaging of IPA using antibody-guided Positron Emission Tomography/Magnetic Resonance Imaging (immunoPET/MRI). ; This work was supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Program FP7/2007-2013 under grant 602820.
Through the measurement of the optical properties (absorption and scattering), diffuse optical spectroscopy allows one to estimate non-invasively the composition of biological tissues (water, lipid and collagen content) and functional blood parameters. Further, it provides information on the microscopic tissue structure. It can therefore be effectively used in vivo as an absolutely non-invasive diagnostic tool. The Department of Physics of the Politecnico di Milano has designed and built an optical mammograph that exploits diffused optics, operating with pulsed light at 7 wavelengths in the red and near infrared spectral range (635-1060 nm). The instrument was used in a clinical study on 200 subjects, in collaboration with the European Institute of Oncology: optically derived tissue composition and in particular collagen content in tissues proved to be effective both to discriminate between malignant and benign breast lesions, and to estimate the risk of breast cancer related to the density of breast tissue, which is recognized among the most important independent risk factors. Partly based on those results, "SOLUS - Smart optical and ultrasound diagnostics of breast cancer", a European project in the H2020 Framework Program, is now working to improve the specificity of non-invasive breast cancer diagnosis by combining diffuse optics with ultrasound imaging.
Infektiøse sygdomme udgør en stadig større global udfordring når det kommer til diagnostik, behandling og offentlig sundhedspolitik. Biosensorer er en af de hurtigst voksende teknologier indenfor in vitro diagnostik. De sofistikerede mikrosystemer åbner op for spændende decentraliserede kliniske anvendelsesmuligheder i medicin og diagnostik. Billige elektrokemiske plastiksensorer til grundforskning, diagnostik af virusinfektioner og opdagelse af nye lægemidler blev udviklet og evalueret i dette ph.d. projekt. Med en udviklet biosensor chip kunne tidlige tegn på virusinfektion måles elektrisk i cellekultur. Systemet registrerede en infektion i humane celler indenfor et par timer. Dette er en betydelig tidsbesparelse i forhold til traditionel viruskultur, som stadig er den gyldne standard i laboratoriet til diagnosticering af virusinfektioner. Biosensorplatformen blev tilpasset til selektivt at fiske intakte viruspartikler fra kropsvæske ved hjælp af overfladefunktionalisering med aptamerer. Viruspartiklerne bandt til aptamer prober, der var immobiliserede på ledende polymerelektroder, og interaktionen kunne hurtigt og let måles elektrisk. Sensoren svarede hurtigt og udviste høj sensitivitet og specificitet. Klinisk relevante koncentrationer af influenzavirus i spytprøver blev påvist indenfor femten minutter. Apparatet kan potentielt udformes til et omkostningseffektivt diagnostisk point of care system til brug i felten - et sted hvor de fleste etablerede teknikker fejler. Mikrofluide cellemigrationsplatforme - der imiterer in vivo forhold - blev udviklet med succes. De kan forbedre den eksperimentelle in vitro forsøgsopsætning til grundforskning og opdagelse af nye lægemidler. Plastic biosensorer har nået et nyt niveau og medicinsk diagnostik kan drage fordel af integrering af elektriske sensorer i billige plastik mikrosystemer til påvisning af patogener, og bane vejen for point of care undersøgelser. De præsenterede platforme kan potentielt masseproduceres og let tilpasses andre opgaver indenfor området. ; New and emerging infectious diseases pose a growing global challenge for patient diagnosis and treatment, and for public health responses. Biosensors are one of the fastest growing technologies for in vitro diagnostics, and the sophisticated microsystems offer exciting opportunities for decentralized clinical applications in medicine and diagnostics. In this PhD project, low cost electrochemical plastic sensors for basic research, diagnosis of viral infections or drug discovery were developed and evaluated. In the developed biosensor chip, early signs of virus infection in cell culture could be detected electrically using a cell based biosensing platform. The system responded for the infection of human cells within a few hours. This is a highly competitive time frame compared to viral culture, which is still the golden standard for laboratory diagnosis of viral infections. The biosensing platform was adapted to selectively fish out virions from body fluid by aptamer functionalization. The intact virus particles were captured by immobilized aptamer probes on conductive polymer electrodes, allowing fast and easy electrical detection. The sensor responded rapidly, and showed high sensitivity and specificity. Influenza virus in saliva specimen was detectable within fifteen minutes at a clinically relevant concentration. The device has potential for miniaturization into a cost effective field ready point of care diagnostic system, where the majority of established techniques fail to function outside the specialized laboratory. Microfluidic cell migration devices, imitating in vivo conditions were developed with success, improving the in vitro experimental setup for basic research and drug discovery. Polymer biosensors have reached a new level of maturity, and pathogen detection could benefit from the integration of electrical sensors into low cost plastic microdevices pioneering point of care testing. The presented biosensing platforms have potential for scaling up towards high throughput screening, and are adaptable to other applications in medicine and diagnostics, and other fields.
The development of tools for the early diagnosis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma is an urgent need in order to increase treatment success rate and reduce patient mortality. Here, we present a modular nanosystem platform integrating soft nanoparticles with a targeting peptide and an active imaging agent for diagnostics. Biocompatible single-chain polymer nanoparticles (SCPNs) based on poly(methacrylic acid) were prepared and functionalized with the somatostatin analogue PTR86 as the targeting moiety, since somatostatin receptors are overexpressed in pancreatic cancer. The gamma emitter 67Ga was incorporated by chelation and allowed in vivo investigation of the pharmacokinetic properties of the nanoparticles using single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT). The resulting engineered nanosystem was tested in a xenograph mouse model of human pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Imaging results demonstrate that accumulation of targeted SCPNs in the tumor is higher than that observed for nontargeted nanoparticles due to improved retention in this tissue. ¸ 2016 American Chemical Society. ; This project has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. 263307 (SaveMe), from the Basque Government Elkartek biomaGUNE2015 and from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, project MAT2013-48169-R. Larraitz Gil-Iceta acknowledges a PhD studentship from the Department of Education, Language Policy and Culture of the Basque Government.
Carbon nanomaterials, including 2D graphene-based materials, have shown promising applicability to drug delivery, tissue engineering, diagnostics, and various other biomedical areas. However, to exploit the benefits of these materials in some of the areas mentioned, it is necessary to understand their possible toxicological implications and long-term fate in vivo. We previously demonstrated that following intravenous administration, 2D graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets were largely excreted via the kidneys; however, a small but significant portion of the material was sequestered in the spleen. Herein, we interrogate the potential consequences of this accumulation and the fate of the spleen-residing GO over a period of nine months. We show that our thoroughly characterized GO materials are not associated with any detectable pathological consequences in the spleen. Using confocal Raman mapping of tissue sections, we determine the sub-organ biodistribution of GO at various time points after administration. The cells largely responsible for taking up the material are confirmed using immunohistochemistry coupled with Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This combination of techniques identified cells of the splenic marginal zone as the main site of GO bioaccumulation. In addition, through analyses using both bright-field TEM coupled with electron diffraction and Raman spectroscopy, we reveal direct evidence of in vivo intracellular biodegradation of GO sheets with ultrastructural precision. This work offers critical information about biological processing and degradation of thin GO sheets by normal mammalian tissue, indicating that further development and exploitation of GO in biomedicine would be possible. ; This work was partially supported by the EPSRC NOWNANO DTC program and grants EP/K016946/1 and EP/M010619/1. This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement numbers GrapheneCore1 (696656) and GrapheneCore2 (785219). D.J. and K.K. would like to acknowledge the support by the UKRI, EPSRC from the Programme Grant 2D-Health (EP/P00119X/1). The DTRA, USA (grant HDTRA1-12-1-0013), is also acknowledged for partial support. ; Peer reviewed
Heng Liu,1,2 Xiao Chen,1 Wei Xue,1 Chengchao Chu,2 Yu Liu,2 Haipeng Tong,1 Xuesong Du,1 Tian Xie,1 Gang Liu,2 Weiguo Zhang1,3 1Department of Radiology, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 2State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, Center for Molecular Imaging and Translational Medicine, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, 3Chongqing Clinical Research Center for Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, Chongqing, People's Republic of China Abstract: The highly infiltrative and invasive nature of glioma cells often leads to blurred tumor margins, resulting in incomplete tumor resection and tumor recurrence. Accurate detection and precise delineation of glioma help in preoperative delineation, surgical planning and survival prediction. In this study, recombinant epidermal growth factor-like domain-1, derived from human coagulation factor VII, was conjugated to iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) for targeted glioma magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The synthesized EGF1-EGFP-IONPs exhibited excellent targeting ability toward tissue factor (TF)-positive U87MG cells and human umbilical vein endothelial cells in vitro, and demonstrated persistent and efficient MR contrast enhancement up to 12 h for preclinical glioma models with high targeting specificity in vivo. They hold great potential for clinical translation and developing targeted theranostics against brain glioma. Keywords: epidermal growth factor-like domain-1, tissue factor, iron oxide nanoparticles, MRI, glioma
27 pages, 10 figures, 26 references ; International audience ; Nanomedicine is a relatively new field of science and technology. It looks sometimes ill defined and interpretations of that term may vary, especially between Europe and the United States. By interacting with biological molecules, therefore at nanoscale, nanotechnology opens up a vast field of research and application. Interactions between artificial molecular assemblies or nanodevices and biomolecules can be understood both in the extracellular medium and inside the human cells. Operating at nanoscale allow to exploit physical properties different from those observed at microscale such as the volume/surface ratio. The investigated diagnostic applications can be considered for in vitro as well as for in vivo diagnosis. In vitro, the synthesized particles and manipulation or detection devices allow for the recognition, capture, and concentration of biomolecules. In vivo, the synthetic molecular assemblies are mainly designed as a contrast agent for imaging. A second area exhibiting a strong development is the "nanodrugs" where nanoparticles are designed for targeted drug delivery. The use of such carriers improves the drug biodistribution, targeting active molecules to diseased tissues while protecting healthy tissue. A third area of application is regenerative medicine where nanotechnology allows developing biocompatible materials which support growth of cells used in cell therapy. The application of nanotechnology to medicine raises new issues because of new uses they allow, for instance: Is the power of these new diagnostics manageable by the medical profession? What means treating a patient without any clinical signs? Nanomedicine can contribute to the development of a personalized medicine both for diagnosis and therapy. There exists in many countries existing regulatory frameworks addressing the basic rules of safety and effectiveness of nanotechnology based medicine, whether molecular assemblies or medical devices. But there is a need to clarify or to modify these regulations which mobilize many experts. France is a country where the medical development of nanotechnology is significant, like Germany, the United Kingdom or Spain, as regards the European Union. There is an active scientific community and industrial partners of all sizes, even if the technology transfer to industry is not as effective as in North America.
