Recent advances in functional nanomaterials for X-ray triggered cancer therapy

X-ray is a form of ionizing radiation with high energy and strong tissue-penetrability, which has been widely used for cancer therapy, including radiation therapy (RT) as one of the mainstream cancer treatments and radiodynamic therapy (RDT) as an emerging treatment modality. However, the nonspecific absorption of X-ray and peculiar tumor microenvironment would lead to the unsatisfied therapeutic effect and severe damage to normal tissues. The fast progress of nanotechnology has provided great opportunities for the development of functional nanoparticles and strategies to solve these problems. In this review, we will summarize the recent advances in functional nanomaterials and the related strategies, discuss how they solve the challenges in order to improve the therapeutic efficacy and safety of RT and RDT, and moreover comment on the challenges and prospects for efficient X-ray triggered cancer therapy based on nanomedicine.