Oxygen Nanoshuttles for Tumor Oxygenation and Enhanced Cancer Treatment

Abstract

Tumor hypoxia is one of the hostile tumor microenvironment characteristics occurring in solid tumors. This feature is closely related to tumor progression and can negatively impair the effectiveness of cancer therapeutics. Recently, various strategies have been developed that enable efficient tumor oxygenation, not only enhancing treatment outcome of oxygen-consuming cancer therapeutics such as radiotherapy and photodynamic therapy, but also reversing the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment to promote cancer immunotherapy. This review focuses on the latest progress in design and fabrication of innovative tumor-targeted oxygen nanoshuttles that attenuate tumor hypoxia and enhance cancer therapy. Future perspectives for clinical translation of tumor-targeted oxygen nanoshuttles will be further discussed.

Host–Guest Interactions between Oxaliplatin and Cucurbit[7]uril/Cucurbit[7]uril Derivatives under Pseudo-Physiological Conditions

“…The design of drug delivery systems (DDSs) is an important part of molecular engineering that demonstrates the use of formulation strategies to evade side effects of drugs, improve their therapeutic effects, and endow more functions to drugs . Conventionally, DDSs have been rationally fabricated based on polymers, − liposomes, − proteins, , and inorganic nanoparticles. − The drugs loaded in the conventional DDSs are commonly linked by covalent bonds, coordination interactions, hydrophobic interactions, and so on. − In addition, polyethylene glycol (PEG) is commonly introduced into DDSs to improve the water solubility and prolong the circulation of drugs. − However, the stability along the circulation process and controlled release of loaded drugs in the tumor environment are not easily compatible in conventional DDSs. The host–guest interaction is a kind of well-established noncovalent interaction that takes advantages of its wide-range binding affinity and stimuli-responsive properties. − By combination of host–guest interaction and DDSs, the stability of loaded drugs can be improved and their cytotoxicity can be inhibited owing to the encapsulation by strong host–guest interactions. − Meanwhile, controlled release of the drugs can be achieved through the specific response of the host–guest interaction to the overexpressed biomarkers in the tumor microenvironment, leading to the recovery of the antitumor bioactivities of drugs. − However, host–guest interaction in DDSs may be affected under the physiological environment because of the complex components in the environment.…”

Improving the effect of radiation therapy by inducing reoxygenation of lung cancer cells through aerobic exercise

“…In other words, tumor hypoxia is a major contributing factor to the failure of radiotherapy and reoxygenation is essential to increase the e cacy of radiotherapy (Brown and Wilson 2004). Recently, there are studies that utilize nanoparticles to deliver oxygen directly inside tumor cells (Feng et al 2019). As nanoparticle formulation technology advances, catalytic nanoshuttles that effectively reach tumor cells have been developed (Feng et (Gao et al 2018).…”

Peroxidase Mimetic Nanozymes in Cancer Phototherapy: Progress and Perspectives

“…Low oxygen in tumors significantly impacts the efficacy of PDT despite its in vitro potential. Efforts to overcome tumor hypoxia have focused on the production of O 2 via catalytic reactions [20,46,47], O 2 carriers and delivery [48][49][50], and O 2 independent photosensitizers [51][52][53]. However, improved efficacy requires the development of photosensitizers to effectively mediate PDT by addressing tumor hypoxia.…”