title: Targeted and effective photodynamic therapy for cancer using functionalized nanomaterials.
abstract: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an emerging, non-invasive therapeutic strategy that involves photosensitizer (PS) drugs and external light for the treatment of diseases. Despite the great progress in PS-mediated PDT, their clinical applications are still hampered by poor water solubility and tissue/cell specificity of conventional PS drugs. Therefore, great efforts have been made towards the development of nanomaterials that can tackle fundamental challenges in conventional PS drug-mediated PDT for cancer treatment. This review highlights recent advances in the development of nano-platforms, in which various functionalized organic and inorganic nanomaterials are integrated with PS drugs, for significantly enhanced efficacy and tumor-selectivity of PDT.
authors.affiliation: Division of Bioengineering, Incheon National University, Incheon 406-772, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Eun Ji
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Division of Bioengineering, Incheon National University, Incheon 406-772, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Dae Gun
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Division of Bioengineering, Incheon National University, Incheon 406-772, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Min Suk
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Shim
keywords: Cancer therapy; Inorganic nanomaterials; Nanoparticles; Near-infrared light; Organic nanomaterials; Photodynamic therapy; Photosensitizer; Targeted therapy