2D Materials for Combination Therapy to Address Challenges in the Treatment of Cancer

Abstract

2D materials exhibit a variety of characteristics that make them appealing platforms for cancer treatment such as high drug loading capacity and photothermal and photodynamic properties. A key advantage of 2D material platforms for oncological applications is the ability to harness multiple modalities including drug delivery, photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, chemodynamic therapy, gene delivery, and immunotherapy approaches for improved efficacy. In this review, a comparison of the unique properties of different classes of 2D materials that enable their usage as platforms for multimodal therapy is provided. Further, the benefits and drawbacks of different platforms are also highlighted. Finally, current challenges and emerging opportunities for future development of 2D materials to further enable combination therapy and translation from the bench to clinical oncology applications are discussed.

Keywords

• chemodynamic therapy
• chemotherapy
• gene therapy
• graphene
• immunotherapy
• laponites