Frontiers in Chemistry (Mar 2021)

Mechanisms of Reactive Oxygen Species Generated by Inorganic Nanomaterials for Cancer Therapeutics

  • Lizhen Zhang,
  • Lizhen Zhang,
  • Chengyuan Zhu,
  • Rongtao Huang,
  • Yanwen Ding,
  • Changping Ruan,
  • Xing-Can Shen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2021.630969
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

Read online

Recently, inorganic nanomaterials have received considerable attention for use in biomedical applications owing to their unique physicochemical properties based on their shapes, sizes, and surface characteristics. Photodynamic therapy (PDT), sonodynamic therapy (SDT), and chemical dynamic therapy (CDT), which are cancer therapeutics mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS), have the potential to significantly enhance the therapeutic precision and efficacy for cancer. To facilitate cancer therapeutics, numerous inorganic nanomaterials have been developed to generate ROS. This mini review provides an overview of the generation mechanisms of ROS by representative inorganic nanomaterials for cancer therapeutics, including the structures of engineered inorganic nanomaterials, ROS production conditions, ROS types, and the applications of the inorganic nanomaterials in cancer PDT, SDT, and CDT.

Keywords