Fenton-like reactions driven by manganese-based nanostructures have been widely applied in cancer treatment owing to the intrinsic physiochemical properties of these nanostructures and their improved sensitivity to the tumor microenvironment. In this work, Zn x Mn 1−x S@polydopamine composites incorporating alloyed Zn x Mn 1−x S and polydopamine (PDA) were constructed, in which the Fenton-like reactions driven by Mn ions can be tuned by a controllable release of Mn ions in vitro and in vivo. As a result, the Zn x Mn 1−x S@PDA exhibited good biocompatibility with normal cells but was specifically toxic to cancer cells. In addition, the shell thickness of PDA was carefully investigated to obtain excellent specific toxicity to cancer cells and promote synergistic chemodynamic and photothermal therapies. Overall, this work highlights an alternative strategy for fabricating high-performance, multifunctional composite nanostructures for a combined cancer treatment.

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Manganese‐based nanomaterials have emerged as potential and important nanomedicine for bioimaging and cancer treatment due to their excellent electronic structure and intrinsic physiochemical property and sensitivity to tumor microenvironment (TME). In this review, the recent progress on the synthesis and applications of various manganese oxides, sulfides with well‐controlled size, morphologies, chemical composition, and nanostructures have been summarized. Numerous samples have been chosen as examples to demonstrate the as‐designed Mn‐based nanostructures for their specifically responded to the TME to produce highly toxic reactive oxygen species via Fenton‐like reactions. Some advanced nanotechnology has been widely used to enhance their therapeutic performance on the cancer treatment under external physical field for multimodal imaging and cancer therapy including chemodynamic therapy, photodynamic therapy, sonodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, radiation therapy, starving therapy, and gas therapy. Perspectives have been presented to demonstrate in this cutting‐edge research area.

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