ISSN: 2379-1764
Xue Li, Mingming Zhen and Chunru Wang*
It is certain that tumor vasculature plays a crucial role in tumor growth and metastasis with unique physiological features. Up to date, rational design of tumor therapeutics targeting tumor blood vessels has become a consensus strategy. However, the current small molecular anti-vascular drugs are always accompanied by toxicity or side effects. It is still necessary to develop novel medication with high efficacy and low toxicity. Gadofullerene (Gd@C82), a novel star material, has been exploited in many different biomedical fields after functionalized. Specially, the highly efficient antitumor effects of functionalized Gd@C82 were explored extensively by suppressing tumor angiogenesis or cutting off the existing tumor vasculature under radiofrequency (RF) irradiation. And studies demonstrated that no detectable toxicity was observed with functionalized Gd@C82 usage. This paper gives an overview of the antineoplastic activities of functionalized Gd@C82 nanomaterials via targeting tumor vasculature.