Advances in the fabrication of potential nanomaterials for diagnosis and effective treatment of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the fatal diseases amongst many other infectious diseases and is primarily caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB cases has been upsurging predominantly owing to the multi-drug resistance, which is also predicted to increase drastically in the near future. Hence, elaborate research exploring novel approaches for effective treatments has become an urgent area of study. In this regard, NP utilization has gained high recognition for the treatment and the effective/elaborate diagnosis of this fatal ailment. This review introduces a recent insight into novel NPs that have verified significant efficacy in TB treatment. Specifically, major focus has been placed on nanomaterials as optical probes for the diagnosis of TB. Gold, silver, and nickel oxide NPs as well as CdTe quantum dots have been investigated for the optical detection, and information about their studies is compiled herein. The sensing process is highly dependent on surface plasmon resonance, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, and/or on fluorescence emission. Overall, nanomaterials are considered a promising tool for developing sensors for the diagnosis of TB. Moreover, nanomaterials have gained significance for application in drug delivery approaches for treating TB, particularly mesoporous silica, which has shown to exhibit remarkable positive impacts on drug-resistant M. tuberculosis, delivering rapid and accurate diagnosis. However, most reported studies are missing intensive in vivo analysis. Limitations and future perspectives have been compiled and reported in this review article. This review sheds light on the novel nanomaterials required for rapid and clear diagnosis of tuberculosis, and compiles and discusses their limitations and future prospects.