Protease-activated nanomaterials for targeted cancer theranostics

Cancer metastasis accompanies irreversible proteolysis. Malignant cells that abnormally express extracellular proteases usually lead to a poor outcome during cancer progression. The development of protease-activated drugs is an important goal. Moreover, the specific proteolytic mechanism can be used as a diagnostic strategy. Currently, nanotechnology for use in medication has been extensively developed to exploit the physical and chemical properties of nanoparticles. For example, to improve the efficacy of cancer therapy drugs, targeted delivery has been attempted by combining a targeting ligand with a nanoparticle. Multifunctional nanoparticles have been prepared for cancer therapy and diagnosis because of their advantages such as stable physical properties, drug carrying ability and potential specific targeting ability. In this review, we present reports on protease-activated nanoparticle design for cancer theranostics. We further describe recent protease-activated metalloprotease-based and cathepsin-based nanomaterials used in cancer nanotheranostics. Innovative protease-activated nanomaterials have significant potential for designing personalized treatment.