BODIPY based nanomedicine for cancer imaging and phototherapy

Abstract

Optical materials with imaging and phototherapy functionalities have offered promising perspectives for precise tumor treatment. Among these materials, boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) photosensitizers have presented potential for cancer theranostics because of their long wavelength absorption/fluorescence, tunable reactive oxygen species quantum yield, excellent photostability, and good biocompatibility. The development of nanotechnology in combination with BODIPY provided researchers with nanomedicines passively targeting solid tumors via enhanced penetration and retention effect, which greatly improved the efficacy of cancer photo-theranostics. In this review, we summarize our contributions for the development of BODIPY nanomedicine for cancer imaging and phototherapy. We firstly introduce our comprehensive routes for BODIPY synthesis and the preparation strategies of BODIPY nanomedicine. Thereafter, we give an in-depth discussion on the photo physicochemical properties of BODIPY nanomedicines, focusing on their applications in fluorescence/photothermal/photoacoustic imaging, photodynamic therapy, phototherapy, and combined phototherapy/vascular disruption therapy. Lastly, we look at the perspectives and challenges for the development of next-generation BODIPY nanomedicines.