Research Progress of Micro/Nanomotors for Cancer Treatment

Abstract

Nanomaterials have been widely used in cancer treatment and have achieved remarkable results. However, the specificity of the tumor microenvironment and a series of biological barriers (such as blood flow, cell membrane, dense tissue, etc.) have caused many obstacles faced by nanomaterials after entering the human body, which makes traditional drug delivery vehicles have insurmountable difficulties, such as low delivery efficiency, poor permeability, etc. The micro/nanomotors with autonomous movement capabilities provide the possibility to solve the above problems. Therefore, this review summarizes the current researches of micro/nanomotors strategies to overcome the different biological barriers of nanomaterials in cancer treatment. The advantages and disadvantages of three typical micro/nanomotors (biological, physical and chemical micro/nanomotors) in cancer treatment are summarized separately, and the future design of micro/nanomotors more suitable for tumor environment was discussed.