Melanin-Like Nanomedicine in Photothermal Therapy Applications

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 22; no. 1; p. 399
• Main Authors: Yue, Yale, Zhao, Xiao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-01-2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Ablation; Animals; Biocompatibility; bioimaging; Cancer therapies; Chemical synthesis; Diagnostic Imaging; Dopamine; Ethanol; Humans; Lasers; Medical imaging; Melanin; melanin-like nanoparticles; Melanins; Methods; Molecular structure; Nanomaterials; Nanomedicine - methods; Nanoparticles; Nanoparticles - chemistry; Nanotechnology; Neoplasms - therapy; Organisms; Photothermal conversion; photothermal conversion ability; Photothermal Therapy; Physicochemical properties; Polymerization; Review; Sulfur; tumor; Tumors; clinical application; biocompatibility; tumor; bioimaging; photothermal therapy; melanin-like nanoparticles; photothermal conversion ability
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms22010399

Photothermal therapy (PTT) mediated by nanomaterial has become an attractive tumor treatment method due to its obvious advantages. Among various nanomaterials, melanin-like nanoparticles with nature biocompatibility and photothermal conversion properties have attracted more and more attention. Melanin is a natural biological macromolecule widely distributed in the body and displays many fascinating physicochemical properties such as excellent biocompatibility and prominent photothermal conversion ability. Due to the similar properties, Melanin-like nanoparticles have been extensively studied and become promising candidates for clinical application. In this review, we give a comprehensive introduction to the recent advancements of melanin-like nanoparticles in the field of photothermal therapy in the past decade. In this review, the synthesis pathway, internal mechanism and basic physical and chemical properties of melanin-like nanomaterials are systematically classified and evaluated. It also summarizes the application of melanin-like nanoparticles in bioimaging and tumor photothermal therapy (PTT)in detail and discussed the challenges they faced in clinical translation rationally. Overall, melanin-like nanoparticles still have significant room for development in the field of biomedicine and are expected to applied in clinical PTT in the future.