Recent progress in covalent organic frameworks for cancer therapy.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Oncology

Background:

• Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) possess advantageous characteristics including biocompatibility, tunable porosity, crystallinity, and modifiability.
• These properties enable high drug loading, prevent premature drug release, facilitate targeted delivery to the tumor microenvironment (TME), and allow controlled therapeutic agent release.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advancements in the application of COFs as nanoplatforms for diverse cancer therapeutic strategies.
• To explore the potential of COFs in chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy (PDT), photothermal therapy (PTT), sonodynamic therapy (SDT), cancer diagnostics, and combinatorial therapies.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of recent research on COFs in cancer therapy.
• Analysis of COF properties relevant to drug delivery and therapeutic efficacy.
• Synthesis of information on various therapeutic modalities utilizing COFs.

Main Results:

• COFs demonstrate significant potential as versatile nanocarriers for various cancer treatment modalities.
• Their structural and functional tunability allows for optimized drug loading, targeted delivery, and controlled release mechanisms.
• COFs are effective in enhancing the efficacy of chemotherapy, PDT, PTT, SDT, and combinatorial treatments.

Conclusions:

• COFs represent a promising class of nanomaterials for advanced cancer therapeutics.
• Further research into COF design and application can overcome current challenges and unlock new therapeutic possibilities.
• COFs offer a flexible platform for developing next-generation cancer treatment strategies.