The development of light-responsive, organic dye based, supramolecular nanosystems for enhanced anticancer therapy

Light-responsive supramolecular nanosystems refer to phototherapeutic agents that could be triggered by light. They have thus shown promising applications and aroused tremendous attention in many fields including drug delivery systems, photodynamic therapy and photothermal therapy. In the review, after a brief introduction of the development of light-responsive organic dye based supramolecular nanosystems for anticancer therapy, an overview of recent advances made during the past five years is provided. Finally, challenges that need to be confronted and new opportunities that exist in the rapidly developing field are discussed. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.