Recent Advances of Emerging Metal-Containing Two-Dimensional Nanomaterials in Tumor Theranostics

Chenxi Li,1,2,* Xueyang Fang,1,* Han Zhang,1,3 Bin Zhang1 1Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Nanozymes and Translational Cancer Research, Institute of Translational Medicine Department of Otolaryngology Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital, the First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Health Science Center, Shenzhen, 518035, People’s Republic of China; 2Graduate Collaborative Training Base of Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital, Heng Yang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, 421001, People’s Republic of China; 3International Collaborative Laboratory of 2D, Materials for Optoelectronics Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Microscale Optoelectronics, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Bin Zhang; Xueyang Fang, Email binzhang@email.szu.edu.cn; FANGXueyang0210@163.comAbstract: In recent years, metal-containing two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials, among various 2D nanomaterials have attracted widespread attention because of their unique physical and chemical properties, especially in the fields of biomedical applications. Firstly, the review provides a brief introduction to two types of metal-containing 2D nanomaterials, based on whether metal species take up the major skeleton of the 2D nanomaterials. After this, the synthetical approaches are summarized, focusing on two strategies similar to other 2D nanomaterials, top-down and bottom-up methods. Then, the performance and evaluation of these 2D nanomaterials when applied to cancer therapy are discussed in detail. The specificity of metal-containing 2D nanomaterials in physics and optics makes them capable of killing cancer cells in a variety of ways, such as photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, sonodynamic therapy, chemodynamic therapy and so on. Besides, the integrated platform of diagnosis and treatment and the clinical translatability through metal-containing 2D nanomaterials is also introduced in this review. In the summary and perspective section, advanced rational design, challenges and promising clinical contributions to cancer therapy of these emerging metal-containing 2D nanomaterials are discussed. Keywords: metal-containing two-dimensional nanomaterials, nanotechnology-based therapy, cancer precision treatment, theranostic platform