Research trends and hotspots of upconversion nanoparticles for drug delivery and biomedical targeting in photodynamic therapy
UCNP-PDT has evolved from simple photosensitizer loading to multifunctional nanoplatforms, expanding applications to cancer therapy, infection control, and immune modulation. Clinical translation remains limited by size-efficiency trade-offs, low-power irradiation, hypoxia, tissue heating under 980 nm excitation, GMP-compliant production, and insufficient long-term biosafety data. Future advances require coordinated strategies integrating material optimization, mechanistic insight, and translational considerations to achieve safe, scalable, and effective UCNP-PDT for clinical use.
Authors
- Si-Kai Huang
- Hongbing Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2333-1537)
- Zhe Shi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9282-8881)
- Haolin Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7021-7115)
- Wan‐Ting Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4344-9567)
- Wenwen Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2817-7348)
- Yuan Feng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3490-9867)
- Sha Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9107-1354)
- Ting Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1464-8935)
- Haibing Lv
- Xin-Ting Hou
- M. Han
- Xiao-Chun Mo
- Alina Abakirova
Institutions
- Shanghai University of Engineering Science (CN)
- Army Medical University (CN)
- Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital (CN)
- Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (CN)
- Daping Hospital (CN)
- First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (CN)
- Shanxi Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CN)
- Songjiang District Central Hospital (CN)
- Shaoxing People's Hospital (CN)
- Southern Medical University (CN)
- Guangzhou Medical University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Discover Nano
- Published
- 2025-12-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s11671-025-04402-8
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Nanoplatforms for cancer theranostics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.67
Funders
- Guangzhou Medical University
- Zhejiang University