Various functional
chemical materials have been widely used in
imaging and tumor therapy. Targeted ligands such as antibodies, peptides,
and small molecules have been combined with functional materials to
enhance cellular uptake and are used for active targeting of cancer
cells and tumors. Among them, phenylboronic acid (PBA), as a small
molecular ligand, has the characteristics of low cytotoxicity and
easy modification. PBA improves the cancer cell imaging and tumor
treatment effect by binding to glycans on the surface of cancer cells.
In this Mini-Review, we introduced the modification strategy and targeting
strategy of PBA. We focused on the applications of PBA-based functional
materials in fluorescence imaging and tumor therapy. For fluorescence
imaging, the potential of PBA-based functional chemical materials
in cancer diagnosis and tumor targeting was proved by cell imaging
and in vivo imaging. For tumor therapy, we mainly
discussed the applications of PBA-based functional chemical materials
in chemotherapy, gene therapy, phototherapy, and immunotherapy. PBA-based
functional chemical materials provide a useful method for cancer diagnosis
and treatment.