Bioorthogonal Nanozymes: Progress towards Therapeutic Applications

Bioorthogonal nanocatalysts, also known as nanozymes, are promising tools to generate imaging and therapeutic molecules in living systems, through transformations that cannot be performed by cellular machinery. This emerging platform is rapidly evolving towards the creation of smart nanodevices capable of accumulating in targeted cells/tissues, as well as controlling their catalytic activity through chemical and physical signals. In this review, we describe different strategies for fabricating these nanocatalysts and their potential in diagnostic and therapeutic applications. In addition, we discuss the latest advances and envisaged challenges in the use of bioorthogonal nanocatalysis to treat diseases in animal models.