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World J Gastroenterol. Jan 28, 2023; 29(4): 670-681
Published online Jan 28, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i4.670
Nanomedicine-based multimodal therapies: Recent progress and perspectives in colon cancer
Yu-Chu He, Zi-Ning Hao, Zhuo Li, Da-Wei Gao
Yu-Chu He, Zi-Ning Hao, Zhuo Li, Da-Wei Gao, State Key Laboratory of Metastable Materials Science and Technology, Nano-Biotechnology Key Laboratory of Hebei Province, Applying Chemistry Key Laboratory of Hebei Province, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066000, Hebei Province, China
Author contributions: He YC, Hao ZN, and Li Z contributed equally to this review; He YC wrote the introduction and summary and perspectives parts; Hao ZN and Li Z wrote the multimodal therapies for colon cancer part; Gao DW revised the manuscript.
Supported by the Joint Fund Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. U21A20309; and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 22078280, 21776238, 22006128, 22108235 and 22208282.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Da-Wei Gao, PhD, Teacher, State Key Laboratory of Metastable Materials Science and Technology, Nano-Biotechnology Key Laboratory of Hebei Province, Applying Chemistry Key Laboratory of Hebei Province, Yanshan University, No. 438 Hebei Street, Qinhuangdao 066000, Hebei Province, China. dwgao@ysu.edu.cn
Received: September 28, 2022
Peer-review started: September 28, 2022
First decision: November 18, 2022
Revised: November 26, 2022
Accepted: January 9, 2023
Article in press: January 9, 2023
Published online: January 28, 2023
Processing time: 114 Days and 8.8 Hours
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.