In this review, the recent advancement of ZIF-8 as nanocarriers for the loading of various therapeutic molecules to fabricate multifunctional nanoformulations for synergistic cancer therapy will be summarized.

The specific diagnosis and treatment of gliomas is a primary challenge in clinic due to their high invasiveness and blood-brain barrier (BBB) obstruction. It is highly desirable to find a multifunctional agent with good BBB penetration for precise theranostics. Herein, we design and construct a core-shell structured nanotheranostic agent (YVO₄:Nd³⁺-HMME@MnO₂-LF, marked as YHM) with YVO₄:Nd³⁺particles as the core and MnO₂nanosheets as the shell. Sonosensitizer hematoporphyrinmonomethyl ether (HMME) and lactoferrin (LF) were further loaded and modified on the surface, giving it a good ability to cross the BBB, near-infrared fluorescence imaging in the second window (NIR-II)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) bimodality, and highly efficient sonodynamic therapy (SDT) of orthotopic gliomas. The YVO₄:Nd³⁺(25%) core exhibited good NIR-II fluorescence properties, enabling YHM to act as promising probes for NIR-II fluorescence imaging of vessels and orthotopic gliomas. MnO₂shell can not only provide O₂in the tumor microenvironments (TME) to significantly improve the healing efficacy of SDT, but also release Mn²⁺ions to achieve T₁-weight MRI in situ. Non-invasive SDT can effectively restrain tumor growth. This work not only demonstrates that multifunctional YHM is promising for diagnosis and treatment of orthotopic glioma, but also provides insights into exploring the theranostic agents based on rare earth-doped yttrium vanadate nanoparticles.

Photothermal therapy, as a physical therapeutic technique to kill cancer, has generated a great deal of interest. Photothermal agents hence play a critical role in this modern therapy. We report the use of transition metal oxides as photothermal agents based on PEGylated WO_3−x nanoparticles. The well-prepared nanoparticles presented effective results during photothermal therapy both in vitro and in vivo by using near-IR laser irradiation (980 nm, 0.5 W cm⁻²). The tumor cells were effectively damaged using low power density during a short irradiation time without destroying healthy tissues. In vitro results of photothermal therapy with PEGylated WO_3−x nanoparticles proved to be effective on 4T1 murine breast cancer cells via a confocal microscopy method and MTT assay. In vivo results were further confirmed by hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) histological staining. Additionally, PEGylated WO_3−x nanoparticles were shown to be effective as a CT imaging contrast agent on a tumor-bearing mouse model. Our results suggest that this generation of PEGylated WO_3−x nanoparticles can potentially be used in oncological CT imaging and photothermal therapy.

A tannic acid–Fe ³⁺ networks-functionalized polydopamine-based composite nanoparticle was constructed and demonstrated the promising application for T ₁ / T ₂ -weighted MR imaging-guided synergistic treatment of PTT and reductant/photothermal-enhanced CDT.