A WO3−x-based nanotheranostic has been successfully fabricated for photoacoustic imaging-guided synergistic tumor targeting therapy in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) biological window.

Recently, inorganic nanomaterials have received considerable attention for use in biomedical applications owing to their unique physicochemical properties based on their shapes, sizes, and surface characteristics. Photodynamic therapy (PDT), sonodynamic therapy (SDT), and chemical dynamic therapy (CDT), which are cancer therapeutics mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS), have the potential to significantly enhance the therapeutic precision and efficacy for cancer. To facilitate cancer therapeutics, numerous inorganic nanomaterials have been developed to generate ROS. This mini review provides an overview of the generation mechanisms of ROS by representative inorganic nanomaterials for cancer therapeutics, including the structures of engineered inorganic nanomaterials, ROS production conditions, ROS types, and the applications of the inorganic nanomaterials in cancer PDT, SDT, and CDT.

Second near-infrared (NIR-II) window responsive phototheranostic agents have a precise spatiotemporal potential for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. In this study, a full-spectrum responsive ZrO2-based phototheranostic agent was found...

Chemodynamic immunotherapy that utilizes catalysts to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) for killing tumor cells and arousing antitumor immunity has received considerable attention. However, it is still restricted by low ROS production efficiency and insufficient immune activation, due to intricate redox homeostasis in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Herein, a metalloprotein‐like hybrid nanozyme (FeS@GOx) is designed by in situ growth of nanozyme (ferrous sulfide, FeS) in a natural enzyme (glucose oxidase, GOx) to amplify ROS cascade for boosting chemodynamic immunotherapy. In FeS@GOx, GOx allows the conversion of endogenous glucose to gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide, which provides favorable increasing hydrogen peroxide for subsequent Fenton reaction of FeS nanozymes, thus reinforcing ROS production. Notably, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) release is activated by the gluconic acid generation‐related pH decrease, which can suppress the activity of endogenous thioredoxin reductase and catalase to further inhibit ROS elimination. Thus, FeS@GOx can sustainably amplify ROS accumulation and perturb intracellular redox homeostasis to improve chemodynamic therapy and trigger robust immunogenic cell death for effective immunotherapy combined with immune checkpoint blockade. This work proposes a feasible H2S amplified ROS cascade strategy employing a bioinspired hybrid nanozyme, providing a novel pathway to multi‐enzyme‐mediated TME modulation for precise and efficient chemodynamic immunotherapy.

Phototheranostic offers a regional-focused tumor treatment upon photoirradiation. However, it is difficult to completely eradicate solid tumors using a conventional phototheranostic owing to the residual tumor cells outside the laser irradiation range. Herein, we fabricated a metallopolysaccharide-based smart nanotheranostic (Fe– d HA) via a nanoassembly-driven method, in which Fe3+ ions were coordinated to dopamine-modified biopolysaccharide hyaluronic acid ( d HA). Taking advantage of the structural backbone and intrinsic dual-information-related functions of HA as well as the bi-functional Fe­(III)-coordination centers, Fe– d HA can efficiently target tumor cells for phototheranostic. Additionally, it can be activated by endogenous overexpressed hyaluronidase to achieve sequential ferroptosis in tumor cells. The precise imaging and effective tumor inhibition using this metallopolysaccharide-based nanotheranostic were significantly demonstrated in vivo and in vitro. Thus, this rationally designed Fe– d HA provided a simple metallopolysaccharide strategy to develop an “all-in-one” smart nanotheranostic to synergize different therapeutic modalities for improving cancer therapy.

Phototheranostic, a regional-focused treatment, can endow cancer theranostic with low damage due to its spatial precision. However, precise elimination of residual cancer cells in laser-focused field and in non-laser-focused field...

Tumor imaging and photoimmunotherapy holds great promise for precise and efficient tumor treatment. However, tumor microenvironment (TME) with high redox level inhibits reactive oxygen species mediated-treatment and immune response. The...

As promising photonic material, phototheranostics can be activated in the laser irradiation range of tumor with sensitivity and spatiotemporal precision. However, it is difficult to completely eradicate solid tumors due to their irregularity and limited laser irradiation area. Herein, multistimulus responsive HAÀ Ce6@SWNHs were constructed with single-walled carbon nanohorns (SWNHs) and chlorine e6 (Ce6) modified hyaluronic acid (HA) via non-covalent binding. This SWNHs-based phototheranostics not only exhibited water dispersion but also could target tumor and be activated by near-infrared light for photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT). Additionally, HAÀ Ce6@SWNHs could be degraded by hyaluronidase in residual tumor cells, causing HAÀ Ce6 to fall off the SWNHs surfaces to restore autofluorescence, thus precisely guiding the programmed photodynamic treatments for residual tumor cells after the initial phototherapy. Thus, this work provides a rationally designed multiple-stimulus-response strategy to develop smart SWNHs-based phototheranostics for precise PDT/PTT and post-treatment imaging-guided PDT of residual tumor cells.