Dendrimer‐Based Nanodrugs for Chemodynamic Therapy of Tumors

Abstract

To realize precise tumor treatment, chemodynamic therapy (CDT) that utilizes metal element to trigger Fenton or Fenton‐like reaction to generate cytotoxic hydroxyl radicals in tumor region has been widely investigated. Recently, the dendrimers featured with abundant surface functional groups and excellent biocompatibility are regarded as promising carriers of metal elements for tumor delivery. Much effort has been devoted to design dendrimer‐based nanodrugs for CDT and CDT‐involved synergistic therapy of tumors. Herein, the recent advances in the construction of dendrimer‐based nanodrugs (in most cases, poly(amidoamine) dendrimers) for CDT, CDT/chemotherapy, CDT/phototherapy, CDT/gene therapy, or CDT‐involved multimodal therapy are reviewed. Furthermore, the future perspectives with regard to the development of dendrimer‐based nanodrugs for CDT‐involved tumor treatment are also briefly discussed.

Keywords

• chemodynamic therapy
• dendrimers
• Fenton or Fenton‐like reactions
• metal element
• synergistic tumor therapy