Presenting a New Paradigm in Cancer Therapy : Delivering therapeutic agents using navigable microcarriers.

The group of diseases characterized by the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells in the body is what defines cancer, and the number of individuals affected each year continues to climb. In the United States, for example, the American Cancer Society reported that men have slightly less than a one-in-two chance of developing cancer sometime in their lives, while women have a little more than a one-in-three risk of developing cancer. These figures for 2013 alone translate to an estimated 1,660,290 new cancer cases, resulting in approximately 580,350 deaths?almost 1,600 people per day, or one every 54 seconds. With an estimated world population of 7.119 billion individuals, of which the U.S. population represents only 4.45%, one can easily realize the importance of finding new or improved treatment modalities for cancer.