Nanomedicine-based multimodal therapies: Recent progress and perspectives in colon cancer

Abstract

Colon cancer has attracted much attention due to its annually increasing incidence. Conventional chemotherapeutic drugs are unsatisfactory in clinical application because of their lack of targeting and severe toxic side effects. In the past decade, nanomedicines with multimodal therapeutic strategies have shown potential for colon cancer because of their enhanced permeability and retention, high accumulation at tumor sites, co-loading with different drugs, and comb-ination of various therapies. This review summarizes the advances in research on various nanomedicine-based therapeutic strategies including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, phototherapy (photothermal therapy and photodynamic therapy), chemodynamic therapy, gas therapy, and immunotherapy. Additionally, the therapeutic mechanisms, limitations, improvements, and future of the above therapies are discussed.

Keywords: Colon cancer; Nanomedicine; Drug permeability; Drug retention; Multimodal therapies; Therapeutic mechanism

Core Tip: Nanomedicine has exhibited great potential in the colon cancer therapy over the past decades. In this review, we summarize the advances in research on various nanomedicine-based therapeutic strategies including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, phototherapy (photothermal therapy and photodynamic therapy), chemodynamic therapy, gas therapy, and immunotherapy. Additionally, the therapeutic mechanism, limitations, and improvement in these therapies are also introduced. The challenges and future prospect of the nanomedicine-based multimodal therapies for colon cancer are discussed.