title: Progress in the Field of Constructing Near-Infrared Light-Responsive Drug Delivery Platforms.
abstract: Stimuli-responsive materials have taken replace of traditional drug carriers due to their ability to achieve controlled release of their encapsulated contents. A variety of sensitive materials, such as polymers that respond to pH, light, and magnetic fields, are widely used to construct drug carriers, and achieved good results. Specifically, near-infrared light (NIR) responsive materials are of particular interest in drug delivery, as NIR can penetrate body tissue and is minimally absorbed by the body's water and hemoglobin and is less harmful to healthy cells than UV or visible light. Thus, the near-infrared excitation drug delivery systems (NIRDDSs) have some essential advantages just like being efficient to kill tumor cells, accurate to achieve the tumor sites and less damage to human body. Also, in the process of building the carriers, we may achieve a combination of controlled release chemotherapy, photothermal therapy (PTT) or photodynamic therapy (PDT). In addition, besides utilizing as drug delivery platforms, some carriers can achieve multifunctional tumor diagnosis and treatment, such as magnetic resonance imaging, optical imaging, drug carriers and PTT. In this review, based on the mechanism of NIR, we highlight diverse near-infrared light-responsive drug delivery platforms and recent advances in the development of NIRDDSs for cancer therapy primarily.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Hanjie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D007259:Infrared Rays