Chemodynamic nanomaterials for cancer theranostics

• Main Authors: Jingqi Xin, Caiting Deng, Omer Aras, Mengjiao Zhou, Chunsheng Wu, Feifei An
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2021-06-01
• Series: Journal of Nanobiotechnology
• Subjects: Fenton reaction; Chemodynamic therapy; Theranostics; Hypoxia; Combination therapy
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12951-021-00936-y

Abstract It is of utmost urgency to achieve effective and safe anticancer treatment with the increasing mortality rate of cancer. Novel anticancer drugs and strategies need to be designed for enhanced therapeutic efficacy. Fenton- and Fenton-like reaction-based chemodynamic therapy (CDT) are new strategies to enhance anticancer efficacy due to their capacity to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxygen (O2). On the one hand, the generated ROS can damage the cancer cells directly. On the other hand, the generated O2 can relieve the hypoxic condition in the tumor microenvironment (TME) which hinders efficient photodynamic therapy, radiotherapy, etc. Therefore, CDT can be used together with many other therapeutic strategies for synergistically enhanced combination therapy. The antitumor applications of Fenton- and Fenton-like reaction-based nanomaterials will be discussed in this review, including: (iþ) producing abundant ROS in-situ to kill cancer cells directly, (ii) enhancing therapeutic efficiency indirectly by Fenton reaction-mediated combination therapy, (iii) diagnosis and monitoring of cancer therapy. These strategies exhibit the potential of CDT-based nanomaterials for efficient cancer therapy.