Black Phosphorus, an Emerging Versatile Nanoplatform for Cancer Immunotherapy

Abstract

Black phosphorus (BP) is one of the emerging versatile nanomaterials with outstanding biocompatibility and biodegradability, exhibiting great potential as a promising inorganic nanomaterial in the biomedical field. BP nanomaterials possess excellent ability for valid bio-conjugation and molecular loading in anticancer therapy. Generally, BP nanomaterials can be classified into BP nanosheets (BPNSs) and BP quantum dots (BPQDs), both of which can be synthesized through various preparation routes. In addition, BP nanomaterials can be applied as photothermal agents (PTA) for the photothermal therapy (PTT) due to their high photothermal conversion efficiency and larger extinction coefficients. The generated local hyperpyrexia leads to thermal elimination of tumor. Besides, BP nanomaterials are capable of producing singlet oxygen, which enable its application as a photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy (PDT). Moreover, BP nanomaterials can be oxidized and degraded to nontoxic phosphonates and phosphate under physiological conditions, improving their safety as a nano drug carrier in cancer therapy. Recently, it has been reported that BP-based PTT is capable of activating immune responses and alleviating the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment by detection of T lymphocytes and various immunocytokines, indicating that BP-based nanocomposites not only serve as effective PTAs to ablate large solid tumors but also function as an immunomodulation agent to eliminate discrete tumorlets. Therefore, BP-mediated immunotherapy would provide more possibilities for synergistic cancer treatment.

Electrospun Silk Fibroin/Polylactic-co-glycolic Acid/Black Phosphorus Nanosheets Nanofibrous Membrane with Photothermal Therapy Potential for Cancer

“…The lone pair of electrons on each phosphorus atom results in a high reactivity of the BP nanosheets to water and oxygen, leading to the degradation of the BP nanosheets to non-toxic phosphates (PO 4 3− ) and other P x O y in the physiological environment [ 53 ]. The PO 4 3− captures surrounding positive calcium ions (Ca 2+ ) to form calcium phosphate (CaP) [ 54 ], which promotes local biomineralization for in situ bone regeneration [ 55 ].…”

“…Molecules 2022, 27, x FOR PEER REVIEW 11 of 17 dation of the BP nanosheets to non-toxic phosphates (PO4 3-) and other PxOy in the physiological environment [53]. The PO4 3-captures surrounding positive calcium ions (Ca 2+ ) to form calcium phosphate (CaP) [54], which promotes local biomineralization for in situ bone regeneration [55].…”

Combining nanotechnology with the multifunctional roles of neutrophils against cancer and inflammatory disease

“…As a conceptually novel 2D material, black phosphorus (BP) has recently gained considerable attention in biomedical fields due to its distinctive properties. 102,103 Because of the unique electronic structure that resulted from its tunable bandgap, BP displays a wide range of absorption within the entire visible light region, which makes it become a highly efficient photosensitizer to be applied in both photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) against cancer. 104,105 Compared with the most reported metal-free photoactive agents, BP can generate singlet oxygen with a higher quantum yield of approximately 0.91 and can degrade into biocompatible phosphorus oxides with lower cytotoxicity.…”

Design and Application of Near-Infrared Nanomaterial-Liposome Hybrid Nanocarriers for Cancer Photothermal Therapy

“…Under mild conditions established for the safe and efficient use of lasers, the temperature that was increased in tumor sites was about 10.2 • C, suggesting a good photothermal conversion efficacy. Therefore, the energy of incident light can be converted into heat through QDs, thus achieving photothermal ablation of tumors under NIR irradiation [76]. However, most QDs with high luminous efficiency are insoluble, thus limiting their clinical application [77].…”