Colorectal cancer therapy mediated by nanomedicines

Colorectal cancer is the third most malignant gastrointestinal tumor. Although traditional chemotherapy and radiotherapy have been widely used for treating colorectal cancer, the treatment effect is still unsatisfactory, resulting in a high mortality rate and a low 5-year survival rate. In recent years, with the development of molecular biology of colorectal cancer, many promising therapeutic strategies based on nanomaterials have been developed for colorectal cancer. In this review, we focus on recent advances in colorectal cancer treatment-related nanomedicines. We first discuss the exploration of stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems (DDSs) for colorectal cancer treatment using pH, hypoxia, glutathione (GSH), enzymes, light, magnetic fields (MF), and ultrasound (US) as stimuli. Moreover, the latest progress in emerging therapy for colorectal cancer is further summarized, including photothermal therapy (PTT), magnetothermal therapy (MTT), photodynamic therapy (PDT), sonodynamic therapy (SDT), and chemodynamic therapy (CDT). Finally, we explore the existing challenges and future directions for the better design and development of nanomedicines for clinical colorectal cancer treatment.