Application of Nanoformulations in the Treatment of Oral Cancer

Oral cancer, a prevalent malignancy, urgently requires innovative therapies to overcome the side effects and drug resistance of conventional treatments. Nanoformulations, with unique size effects, high drug-carrying capacities, and targeted delivery advantages, provide a new direction for the precision treatment. This review systematically summarizes the multi-mechanism applications of nanoformulations in oral cancer treatment: in chemotherapy, nanocarriers based on polymers, lipids and metallic materials improve the bioavailability of drugs by enhancing drug penetration and targeting; photothermal/photodynamic therapy utilizes gold nanoparticles, carbon quantum dots and other agents to achieve local thermal ablation of oral tumors and reactive oxygen species killing; radiotherapy sensitizers improve efficacy by enhancing radiation energy deposition; gene therapy and immunotherapy utilize nanocarriers to deliver nucleic acid drugs or regulate immune microenvironment of oral tumors; combined therapy strategy integrates multiple mechanisms through nano platforms to show synergistic potential. In addition, nanoformulations can be used for the detection, diagnosis, and prevention of oral cancer. Despite the challenges of biocompatibility and large-scale production, the integration of smart-responsive nanoformulations with bionic technology shows potential for clinical translation. Future work must optimize the nano-design through interdisciplinary innovation to promote the development of oral cancer treatment in the direction of high efficiency, low toxicity, individualization, and intelligence.