MOF materials as therapeutic agents, drug carriers, imaging agents and biosensors in cancer biomedicine: recent advances and perspectives

Abstract We summarize recent advances in application of MOFs as therapeutic agents, drug carriers, imaging agents and biosensors in cancer biomedicine. A holistic perspective is adopted to produce a comprehensive, critical and readable document useful to a broad community in chemistry, material science, medical fields etc. None of the previous articles adopted a holistic approach focusing on a specific disease or area, such as cancer. MOFs have a tremendous potential in cancer diagnostics and treatment. Although a new field, the amount of literature and data accumulated in this area is vast, quickly growing and requires some systematization and processing. We propose a broad overview of MOF-related literature in the treatment and diagnosis of cancer. In our study, we set: (i) to consolidate the most important and up to date information from the field of MOFs applications in medicine, particularly in anticancer therapy; and to reflect these developments in one, comprehensive study, (ii) to highlight new and emerging topics in the field, (iii) to tabulate the large number of the application examples and case studies to make the information more accessible and easy to follow, (iv) and finally, to broadly reflect on the potential of MOFs in application to cancer treatment, including the existing challenges and emerging opportunities.