Bioresponsive Nanomedicine: The Next Step of Deadliest Cancers' Theranostics

Abstract

Among all cancers, lung, breast, and prostate carcinoma are the three most fatal cancers. Although general therapeutic strategies and existent nanomedicine have been applied in relating cancer treatments, the side effects and potential damage induced by the off-target effect greatly lower the therapeutic efficiency. Recently, an increasing number of bioresponsive nanomaterials is recruited in fighting these deadliest cancers. Therefore, these latest bioresponsive nanomedicine are summarized in the current review. More specifically, the various novel nano-agents that could selectively respond to specific bio-conditions in malignant areas (e.g., pH, temperature, enzyme, Redox, elevated copper ion, etc.) are discussed in detail for their applications in cancer imaging (e.g., fluorescence, NIR, and MRI, etc.) and therapy (e.g., antiangiogenesis, chemotherapy, photothermal, and chemodynamic therapy, etc.). The development of next-generation of bioresponsive nanomedicine and challenges involved are further discussed for future design.

Functionalized Nanoparticles Targeting Tumor-Associated Macrophages as Cancer Therapy

“…In this context, NPs are used as drug carriers to deliver IMX-110 to the TME. Such nano-drug delivery systems proved to be advantageous in delivering drugs to the TME and TAMs, compared to systemically administered naked drugs [ 119 ].…”

Recent advances in photothermal therapy-based multifunctional nanoplatforms for breast cancer

“…In addition, surgery can only remove solid tumors from patients in the early stages, and surgical trauma can induce systemic inflammatory responses to promote micrometastatic growth. Photothermal therapy (PTT) has been demonstrated to be an emerging therapeutic method with low toxicity, minimal invasiveness, and outstanding spatial–temporal selectivity, which could overcome these drawbacks ( Shakil et al, 2019 ; Mao and Liu, 2020 ; Peng et al, 2021 ). By irradiating photothermal agents under near-infrared (NIR) light, hyperthermia can be triggered to kill cancer cells in target tissues by energy transfer through electron–phonon and electron–electron relaxation of photothermal agents that increase temperature, with both primary tumors and early local metastasis being potential targets.…”