Nanoagent-Promoted Mild-Temperature Photothermal Therapy for Cancer Treatment

Photothermal therapy (PTT), which utilizes near-infrared light-absorbing agents to ablate tumor, has emerged as a highly promising anticancer strategy and received intensive clinical trials in recent years. Mild-temperature PTT, which circumvents the limitations of conventional PTT (e.g., thermoresistance and adverse effects), is emerging and shows great potential in the forthcoming clinical applications. However, mild-temperature PTT without adjuvant therapy is not able to completely eradicate tumors because its therapeutic efficacy is dramatically impaired by its inferior heat intensity. As a result, strategies capable of enhancing the anticancer efficacy of mild-temperature PTT are urgently necessitated, which mainly rely on on-demand fabrication of functionalized nanoagents. In this review, the strategies of nanoagent-promoted mild-temperature PTT are highlighted. Furthermore, challenges and opportunities in this field are rationally proposed, and hopefully people can be encouraged by this promising anticancer therapy.