Calcium ion is vital for the regulation of many cellular functions and serves as a second messenger in the signal transduction pathways. Once the intracellular Ca 2+ level exceeds the tolerance of cells (called Ca 2+ overload), oxidative stress, mitochondrial damage, and cell/mitochondria apoptosis happen. Therefore, Ca 2+ overload has started to be deeply exploited as a new strategy for cancer therapy due to its high efficiency and satisfactory safety. This review aims to highlight the recent development of Ca 2+ -based nanomaterials (such as Ca 3 (PO 4 ) 2 , CaCO 3 , CaO 2 , CaH 2 , CaS, and others) able to trigger intracellular Ca 2+ overload and apoptosis in cancer therapy. The intracellular mechanisms of varied Ca 2+ -based nanomaterials and the different types of strategies to enhance Ca 2+ overload are discussed in detail. Moreover, the design of more efficient Ca 2+ overload-mediated cancer therapies is prospected mainly based on 1) the enhanced cellular uptake by surface modification and morphology optimization of nanomaterials, 2) the accelerated Ca 2+ release from nanomaterials by increasing the intracellular H + level and by photothermal effect, and 3) the overload maintenance by Ca 2+ efflux inhibition, Ca 2+ influx promotion, or promoting Ca 2+ release from the endoplasmic reticulum.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.