Abstract
In recent years, the role of nanotechnology in drug delivery has become increasingly important, and this field of research holds many potential benefits for cancer treatment, particularly, in achieving cancer cell targeting and reducing the side effects of anticancer drugs. Biocompatible and biodegradable properties have been essential for using a novel material as a carrier molecule in drug delivery applications. Biocompatible nanocarriers are easy to synthesize, and their surface chemistry often enables them to load different types of photosensitizers (PS) to use targeted photodynamic therapy (PDT) for cancer treatment. This review article explores recent studies on the use of different biocompatible nanocarriers, their potential applications in PDT, including PS-loaded biocompatible nanocarriers, and the effective targeting therapy of PS-loaded biocompatible nanocarriers in PDT for cancer treatment. Furthermore, the review briefly recaps the global clinical trials of PDT and its applications in cancer treatment.
Highlights
Cancer is caused by the uncontrollable and abnormal proliferation of cells in the body, and is the leading cause of death worldwide [1]
We discussed the potential benefits of biocompatible nanocarriers and their enhanced cancer photodynamic therapy (PDT) applications
Different types of biocompatible nanocarriers are extensively studied in cancer PDT applications, and are well documented in the literature—some of them are polymer-based nanocarriers, dendrimers, liposomes, carbonbased nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles, and mesoporous silica nanoparticles
Summary
Cancer is caused by the uncontrollable and abnormal proliferation of cells in the body, and is the leading cause of death worldwide [1]. The development and employment of biocompatible nanocarriers provide various functional applications in the treatment of cancer, such as a controlled delivery of drugs, being nonimmunogenic, a long shelf life, more excellent stability, efficient drug loading, functionalization of targeting ligands, and intracellular drug release into targeted cells. The potential role of functionalized nanomaterials in cancer photodynamic therapy (PDT) and their effective targeting efficiency have been extensively studied [21,22,23]. We explore the use of biocompatible nanocarriers-based PS delivered in PDT for cancer treatment.
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