Physically-triggered nanosystems based on two-dimensional materials for cancer theranostics.

Abstract

There is an increasing demand to develop effective methods for treating malignant diseases to improve healthcare in our society. Stimuli-responsive nanosystems, which can respond to internal or external stimuli are promising in cancer therapy and diagnosis due to their functionality and versatility. As a newly emerging class of nanomaterials, two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials have attracted huge interest in many different fields including biomedicine due to their unique physical and chemical properties. In the past decade, stimuli-responsive nanosystems based on 2D nanomaterials have been widely studied, showing promising applications in cancer therapy and diagnosis, including phototherapies, magnetic therapy, drug and gene delivery, and non-invasive imaging. Here, we will focus our attention on the state-of-the-art of physically-triggered nanosystems based on graphene and two-dimensional nanomaterials for cancer therapy and diagnosis. The physical triggers include light, temperature, magnetic and electric fields.