Therapeutic effect

Nanotechnology

Organic chemistry

Chemistry

Metallurgy

Materials science

Combination therapy

Biocompatibility

Drug delivery

Drug

Photodynamic therapy

Photosensitizer

Reactive oxygen species

Cancer research

Biochemistry

Medicine

Photochemistry

Pharmacology

ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering

Photodynamic therapy as a local therapeutic method shows great biocompatibility in tumor therapy. However, the poor accumulation of photosensitizer in tumors restricted the therapeutic efficacy. Different from traditional chemotherapeutic drugs, some additional issues will further decrease the photodynamic therapeutic efficacy including the oxygen concentration and the short half life of reactive oxygen species. Nanoparticles as drug carriers are currently under rapid development for tumor therapy, especially in photodynamic therapy. This review mainly focuses on the design of nanoparticles for photodynamic therapy, with special emphasis on optimizing the therapeutic efficacy via the tumor tissue/organelles target, oxygen supply, and combination therapy.

Engineering Nanoparticles for Optimized Photodynamic Therapy