Recent advances of supramolecular systems in precise cancer theranostics

Abstract

Cancer remains a leading cause of death globally, with traditional treatments like surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy often causing severe side effects and facing challenges due to tumor heterogeneity and complex microenvironments. Precision medicine, which tailors treatments to individual patients based on molecular and cellular understanding of diseases, offers a promising approach to improve cancer treatment outcomes. Supramolecular chemistry, focusing on molecular aggregates formed by non-covalent interactions, has emerged as a powerful tool in this context. This review explores the applications of supramolecular chemistry in precise cancer theranostics. Supramolecular chemistry, based on non-covalent interactions, can construct unique molecular aggregates with advantages like low immunotoxicity, dynamic reversibility, and modular structure, suitable for precision medicine. The review details these characteristics, and categorizes various supramolecular interactions including hydrogen bonds, electrostatic interactions, π-π stacking, metal-ion coordination bonds, hydrophobic interactions, and corresponding self-assembly systems, and their applications in drug delivery, tumor microenvironment modulation, and radiosensitization, etc. This article provides new directions for the development of supramolecular materials and precise cancer treatment.