Recent advances in multi-configurable nanomaterials for improved chemodynamic therapy

Cancer is one of the most severe culprits that endanger human lives. Numerous novel nanomaterials and techniques emerge to achieve the enhanced therapeutic efficiency for future clinical cancer diagnosis and treatment. Recently, the chemodynamic therapy (CDT) based on Fenton/Fenton-like reactions has dramatically attracted the attention of researchers, which is equipped with excellent properties, such as high localization and selectivity, endogenous stimulus, and low multidrug resistance, as well as the most fascinating high effective anti-tumor therapy. However, CDT still faces the influence of complex pathological microenvironments such as high glutathione (GSH), low hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and non-optimal pH, which makes it difficult to exert ideal therapeutic effect and clinical application. Therefore, in the past few years, various ingenious designs of multi-configurable nanomaterials have been explored to improve the CDT efficiency. The unique properties of nanomaterials provide more possibilities for the rational designs and the clinical applications of CDT. In this review, we mainly conclude the multifaceted strategies of enhancing CDT efficiency by regulating the redox conditions in tumor environments, meanwhile the perspectives and challenges of various nanomaterials are systematically elaborated, thereby providing a reference for the future development of CDT-based multi-configurable nanomaterials for enhancing the CDT efficiency and laying a solid foundation for the clinical applications of CDT.