Abstract
As an essential substance for cell life activities, ions play an important role in controlling cell osmotic pressure balance, intracellular acid–base balance, signal transmission, biocatalysis and so on. The imbalance of ion homeostasis in cells will seriously affect the activities of cells, cause irreversible damage to cells or induce cell death. Therefore, artificially interfering with the ion homeostasis in tumor cells has become a new means to inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells. This treatment is called ion interference therapy (IIT). Although some molecular carriers of ions have been developed for intracellular ion delivery, inorganic nanoparticles are widely used in ion interference therapy because of their higher ion delivery ability and higher biocompatibility compared with molecular carriers. This article reviewed the recent development of IIT based on inorganic nanoparticles and summarized the advantages and disadvantages of this treatment and the challenges of future development, hoping to provide a reference for future research.
Highlights
Cancer is still one of the leading causes of death globally [1]
The released ions in different intracellular environments by inorganic nanoparticles have made a great contribution to inhibiting the activity of cancer cells and enhancing the therapeutic effect of chemotherapy
We discuss ion interference therapy and ion-related tumor immunotherapy based on inorganic nanoparticles and explore the future perspectives of ion interference therapy in the treatment of cancer
Summary
Cancer is still one of the leading causes of death globally [1]. Chemotherapy, as one of the main cancer treatment methods, is widely used especially for advanced cancers in clinic [2]. Inorganic nanoparticles such as Ca2 O, ZnO, CaCO3 , BPS (black phosphorus) and NaCl have been constructed for ion interference treatment, with the advantages of long internal circulation, efficient inhibition of tumor development, high biocompatibility and strong specific recognition ability (Table 1) [4,8,9,10,11]. The research into ion interference therapy based on inorganic nanoparticles has been increasingly explored due to its high efficiency in inhibiting tumor cell proliferation and its ability to promote antitumor immunity. We discuss ion interference therapy and ion-related tumor immunotherapy based on inorganic nanoparticles and explore the future perspectives of ion interference therapy in the treatment of cancer
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