Cancers 2011, 3, 3279-3330; doi:10.3390/cancers3033279 cancers ISSN 2072-6694 www.mdpi.com/journal/cancers Review Assessment of the Evolution of Cancer Treatment Therapies Manuel Arruebo 1,2 , Nuria Vilaboa 2,3 , Berta Sáez-Gutierrez 1,4,5 , Julio Lambea 1,4,5 , Alejandro Tres 1,4,5 , Mónica Valladares 6 and África González-Fernández 7, * 1 Instituto de Nanociencia de Aragón (INA), Mariano Esquillor, Edif. I+D, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza 50018, Spain; E-Mails: arruebom@unizar.es (M.A.); bsaez@unizar.es (B.S.); jjlambea@hotmail.com (J.L.); atreszar@unizar.es (A.T.) 2 CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Zaragoza 50018, Spain; E-Mail: nvilaboa.hulp@salud.madrid.org (N.V.) 3 Hospital Universitario La Paz-IdiPAZ, Paseo de la Castellana 261, Madrid 28046, Spain 4 Servicio de Oncología Médica, Hospital Clínico Universitario Lozano Blesa, Avda. San Juan Bosco 50009, Zaragoza, Spain 5 Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud (I+CS), Avda. Gómez Laguna, 25, Zaragoza 50009, Spain 6 Lonza Biologics Porriño, A relva s/n, Porriño (Pontevedra) 36410, Spain; E-Mail: monica.valladares@lonza.com (M.V.) 7 Immunology Department, Biomedical Research Center (CINBIO), University of Vigo, Campus Lagoas Marcosende, Vigo (Pontevedra) 36310, Spain * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: africa@uvigo.es; Tel.: +34-986812625; Fax: +34-986-812556. Received: 16 June 2011; in revised form: 7 July 2011 / Accepted: 8 August 2011 / Published: 12 August 2011 Abstract: Cancer therapy has been characterized throughout history by ups and downs, not only due to the ineffectiveness of treatments and side effects, but also by hope and the reality of complete remission and cure in many cases. Within the therapeutic arsenal, alongside surgery in the case of solid tumors, are the antitumor drugs and radiation that have been the treatment of choice in some instances. In recent years, immunotherapy has become an important therapeutic alternative, and is now the first choice in many cases. Nanotechnology has recently arrived on the scene, offering nanostructures as new therapeutic alternatives for controlled drug delivery, for combining imaging and treatment, applying hyperthermia, and providing directed target therapy, among others. These therapies can be applied either alone or in combination with other components (antibodies, OPEN ACCESS