Safe-by-design strategies towards bismuth-based nanomaterials in tumor diagnosis and therapy

Abstract

The therapeutic nanomaterials (NMs) are receiving increasing attention for simultaneous diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Bismuth (Bi)-based NMs (Bi NMs) show excellent potential for building therapeutic platforms due to their sensitivity to X-ray, semiconducting properties, and unique structures. Bi NMs can be used in computed tomography (CT) imaging, photoacoustic (PA) imaging, and also in the fields of radiotherapy and phototherapy. Bi NMs can be designed in terms of composition, structure and surface modification to achieve the goal of having more patterns in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Despite their great success in the last decades, emerging nanomedicines still lack a complete comprehension regarding their safety issues and the connection among facets of physicochemical properties and safety. This review starts with the mechanism of action of Bi NMs, focusing on the main classes of Bi NMs biological effects and their toxicological mechanisms. And based on this information, principles for the development of safe-by-design nanomaterials for medical applications and recent advances in the field are outlined. These principles can be used as an initial step to direct the formulation of more effective and safer strategies based on Bi nanodrugs.