Recent Advances in Subcellular Targeted Cancer Therapy Based on Functional Materials

Abstract

Recently, diverse functional materials that take subcellular structures as therapeutic targets are playing increasingly important roles in cancer therapy. Here, particular emphasis is placed on four kinds of therapies, including chemotherapy, gene therapy, photodynamic therapy (PDT), and hyperthermal therapy, which are the most widely used approaches for killing cancer cells by the specific destruction of subcellular organelles. Moreover, some non-drug-loaded nanoformulations (i.e., metal nanoparticles and molecular self-assemblies) with a fatal effect on cells by influencing the subcellular functions without the use of any drug molecules are also included. According to the basic principles and unique performances of each treatment, appropriate strategies are developed to meet task-specific applications by integrating specific materials, ligands, as well as methods. In addition, the combination of two or more therapies based on multifunctional nanostructures, which either directly target specific subcellular organelles or release organelle-targeted therapeutics, is also introduced with the intent of superadditive therapeutic effects. Finally, the related challenges of critical re-evaluation of this emerging field are presented.

Type I photosensitizers based on phosphindole oxide for photodynamic therapy: apoptosis and autophagy induced by endoplasmic reticulum stress

“…42,43 With the advances of PDT in recent decades, many functional PSs targeting specic subcellular structures have been developed. [44][45][46] So far, however, except for the representative hypericin, 47 few ER-targeting PSs have been reported because of the unclear targeting mechanism, which remains a challenge. 24,[48][49][50] Therefore, the development of ER-targeting PSs and the investigation of ERmediated PDT are of great signicance.…”

Highly efficient singlet oxygen generation, two-photon photodynamic therapy and melanoma ablation by rationally designed mitochondria-specific near-infrared AIEgens

“…Such properties should potentially improve the therapeutic outcome in cancer therapy. [15][16][17] As a result, PSs with efficient 1 O 2 generation, cancer cell selectivity and mitochondria-targeting capability are crucial to improve PDT efficacy.…”

A self-assembled Ru–Pt metallacage as a lysosome-targeting photosensitizer for 2-photon photodynamic therapy

“…The therapeutic efficacy of PDT can be improved if the PS exhibits selective accumulation in subcellular compartments that are sensitive to ROS-induced damage, due to the small radius of action of ROS in biological systems (23)(24)(25)(26). Moreover, PSs which selectively localize in subcellular compartments are less prone to efflux compared to PSs which randomly diffuse in the cytoplasm (26)(27)(28).…”