Near-infrared-responsive functional nanomaterials: the first domino of combined tumor therapy

Malignant tumors have seriously endangered human life and health, due to their characteristics including fast growth, easy metastasis, and recurrence. Near-infrared light (NIR, 700-2500 nm), which has good tissue penetration ability and little damage to healthy tissue, is known as the best treatment window for biological application as it provides many attractive advantages in terms of low toxicity, minimal invasion, little side effects, etc. In recent years, various NIR-based treatment strategies have made rapid progress, such as photothermal therapy (PTT), photodynamic therapy (PDT), photochemotherapy (PCT), and multimodal compound therapy (MCT). A variety of functional nanomaterials that can be triggered by NIR are also rapidly explored and developed, which is believed to become an important means of clinical treatment of tumors in the future. This review surveys the latest progress on various well-designed functional nanomaterials like domino triggered by NIR in the field of tumor therapy, including applications of therapy reagents, synergistic treatment with multiple therapeutic modalities, and the combined treatment system formed with other therapies. This review also tries to consider and discuss four aspects about NIR-sensitive functional nanomaterials including their advantages, challenges, further development and application in the future.