Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 6, 2025
Author Spotlight: Advances in Evaluating Human Lung Epithelial Cells' Response to Metal-Organic Frameworks
Published on: May 26, 2023
Recent progress in drug delivery and cancer theranostic built from metal-organic framework
Peng Yang1,2, Zhuang Chen1, Shaojie Liu1
1Engineering Research Center of Molecular- and Neuro-imaging of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Shaanxi, Xi'an 710071, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
With the improvement of living standards, cancer has become a great challenge around the world during last decades, meanwhile, abundant nanomaterials have been developed as drug delivery system (DDS) or cancer theranostic agents (CTAs) with their outstanding properties. However, low multifunctional efficiency and time-consuming synthesis limit their further applications. Nowadays, green chemistry, in particular, the concept of atom economy, has defined new criteria for the simplicity and efficient production of biomaterials for nanomedicine, which not only owns the property of spatio-temporal precision imaging, but also possess the ability to treat cancer. Interestingly, metal-organic framework (MOF) is an excellent example to meet the requirements behind this concept and has great potential for next-generation nanomedicine. In this review, we summarize our recent researches and inspiring progresses in designing DDS and CTA built from MOF, aiming to show the simplicity, control, and versatility, and provide views on the development of MOF-based nanomedicine in the future.
Insights
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) offer a simple, efficient, and versatile platform for developing advanced nanomedicine. These materials show great potential as drug delivery systems and cancer theranostic agents for improved cancer treatment.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanomedicine
- Green Chemistry
Background:
- Cancer presents a significant global health challenge, driving demand for advanced nanomedicine solutions.
- Existing nanomaterials for drug delivery and cancer theranostics often suffer from low efficiency and complex synthesis.
- Green chemistry principles, particularly atom economy, are crucial for developing efficient and simple biomaterials.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review recent research on designing metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for nanomedicine applications.
- To highlight the potential of MOFs as drug delivery systems (DDS) and cancer theranostic agents (CTAs).
- To discuss the simplicity, control, and versatility of MOF-based nanomedicine.
Main Methods:
- Focuses on summarizing recent research and progress in MOF-based nanomedicine.
- Emphasizes the design principles of MOFs for drug delivery and theranostics.
- Reviews the application of MOFs in spatio-temporal precision imaging and cancer treatment.
Main Results:
- MOFs exemplify green chemistry principles, offering high multifunctional efficiency.
- MOF-based nanomedicine demonstrates simplicity, control, and versatility in design and application.
- MOFs show promise for next-generation nanomedicine, enabling precise imaging and cancer treatment.
Conclusions:
- MOFs are highly promising for developing next-generation nanomedicine.
- The design of MOF-based DDS and CTAs aligns with green chemistry principles.
- MOFs offer a versatile platform for advancing cancer theranostics and drug delivery.
