TY - JOUR AU - Fei, Weidong AU - Zhang, Meng AU - Fan, Xiaoyu AU - Ye, Yiqing AU - Zhao, Mengdan AU - Zheng, Caihong AU - Li, Yangyang AU - Zheng, Xiaoling PY - 2021 DA - 2021/03/31 TI - Engineering of bioactive metal sulfide nanomaterials for cancer therapy JO - Journal of Nanobiotechnology SP - 93 VL - 19 IS - 1 AB - Metal sulfide nanomaterials (MeSNs) are a novel class of metal-containing nanomaterials composed of metal ions and sulfur compounds. During the past decade, scientists found that the MeSNs engineered by specific approaches not only had high biocompatibility but also exhibited unique physicochemical properties for cancer therapy, such as Fenton catalysis, light conversion, radiation enhancement, and immune activation. To clarify the development and promote the clinical transformation of MeSNs, the first section of this paper describes the appropriate fabrication approaches of MeSNs for medical science and analyzes the features and limitations of each approach. Secondly, we sort out the mechanisms of functional MeSNs in cancer therapy, including drug delivery, phototherapy, radiotherapy, chemodynamic therapy, gas therapy, and immunotherapy. It is worth noting that the intact MeSNs and the degradation products of MeSNs can exert different types of anti-tumor activities. Thus, MeSNs usually exhibit synergistic antitumor properties. Finally, future expectations and challenges of MeSNs in the research of translational medicine are spotlighted. SN - 1477-3155 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12951-021-00839-y DO - 10.1186/s12951-021-00839-y ID - Fei2021 ER -