Center of Super-Diamond and Advanced Films (COSDAF) and Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China.
College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, P. R. China.
Adv Healthc Mater. 2021 May;10(10):e2100055. doi: 10.1002/adhm.202100055. Epub 2021 Mar 18.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is extensively explored for anticancer and antibacterial applications. It typically relies on oxygen-dependent generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to realize its killing effect. This type of therapy modality shows compromised therapeutic results for treating hypoxic tumors or bacteria-infected wounds. Recently, alkyl radicals attracted much attention as they can be generated from some azo-based initiators only under mild heat stimulus without oxygen participation. Many nanocarriers or hydrogel systems have been developed to load and deliver these radical initiators to lesion sites for theranostics. These systems show good anticancer or antimicrobial effect in hypoxic environment and some of them possess specific imaging abilities providing precise guidance for treatment. This review summarizes the developed materials that aim at treating hypoxic cancer and bacteria-infected wound by using this kind of oxygen-irrelevant alkyl radicals. Based on the carrier components, these agents are divided into three groups: inorganic, organic, as well as inorganic and organic hybrid carrier-based therapeutic systems. The construction of these agents and their specific advantages in biomedical field are highlighted. Finally, the existing problems and future promising development directions are discussed.
光动力疗法（PDT）在抗癌和抗菌方面的应用得到了广泛的探索。它通常依赖于氧依赖性的活性氧（ROS）的产生来实现其杀伤作用。这种治疗方式在治疗缺氧肿瘤或细菌感染的伤口时，疗效受到影响。最近，烷基自由基引起了广泛的关注，因为它们可以仅在温和的热刺激下，无需氧气参与，由一些偶氮基引发剂产生。许多纳米载体或水凝胶系统已被开发出来，以将这些自由基引发剂负载并递送到病变部位进行治疗和诊断。这些系统在缺氧环境下表现出良好的抗癌或抗菌效果，其中一些还具有特定的成像能力，为治疗提供了精确的指导。本综述总结了通过使用这种与氧无关的烷基自由基来治疗缺氧癌症和细菌感染伤口的开发材料。基于载体成分，这些试剂可分为三组：无机、有机以及无机和有机杂化载体治疗系统。强调了这些试剂的构建及其在生物医学领域的特定优势。最后，讨论了存在的问题和未来有前途的发展方向。
