Laser-Triggered Drug-Loaded Magnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy

Any single cancer treatment technique has its associated disadvantages, which lead to low therapeutic efficiency or even therapeutic failure. The growth of a large-sized tumor is hard to completely inhibit through magnetic iron oxide nanoparticle-mediated photothermal therapy (PTT) alone. Therefore, magnetic iron oxide nanoparticle-mediated dual or multimodal therapies have been widely investigated. Numerous unique geometry nanostructures, such as hollow structures, core-shell structures, and yolk-shell structures, have been developed for drug loading via physical action or chemical reaction. Chemotherapeutic drugs and photosensitizers are commonly selected to fabricate the drug-loaded magnetic nanocomposites. They help improve cancer therapy through the synergistic effect between the photothermal and photodynamic effects or chemotherapy. In this chapter, the typical nanostructures of magnetic nanocomposites for drug loading in photothermal-chemotherapy, photothermal-photodynamic therapy, and “photothermal-photodynamic therapy + chemotherapy” have been discussed. Also, it includes the possible options to improve the therapy efficiency further.