Emerging plasmonic nanoparticles and their assemblies for cancer radiotherapy

Plasmonic nanoparticles and their assemblies have been widely used in biosensing, optical imaging, and biomedicine over the past few decades. Especially in the field of radiotherapy, the physicochemical prop-erties of high-Z plasmonic nanomaterials endow them with the ability to sensitize radiotherapy. Compared with single particles, the assembled structure with tunable properties leads to versatile appli-cations in drug delivery and cancer treatment. In this review, we focus on plasmonic nanoparticles and their assemblies for cancer radiotherapy. First, the sensitization mechanism of plasmonic radiosensitizers is briefly introduced. Subsequently, the recent progress in cancer radiotherapy is systematically discussed according to the structure and shape classification. Finally, the current challenges and future perspectives in this field are also discussed in detail.(c) 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Plasmonic nanoparticles and their assemblies have been widely used in biosensing, optical imaging, and biomedicine. In the field of radiotherapy, plasmonic nanomaterials with high-Z properties have the ability to sensitize radiotherapy. Assembled structures with tunable properties have versatile applications in drug delivery and cancer treatment. This review focuses on the use of plasmonic nanoparticles and their assemblies in cancer radiotherapy, discussing the sensitization mechanism and recent progress in this field, as well as the current challenges and future perspectives.