Table 3.

Representative examples of nanomaterial-based drug-delivery systems in head and neck cancer.

Objective	Type of nanocarrier	Drug-delivery system	Nature of study	Study model	Reference
Imaging agents	MNPs	Cysteamine-linked folic acid AuNPs	In vivo	Nude male mice with KB tumours	[53]
	Quantum dots	Uniformly sized N-rich mesoporous C nanospheres from pyrrole and aniline precursors	In vitro	Human oral cancer cells (FaDu)	[54]
	Graphene	GQD nanozymes to oxidise ABTS in the presence of H2O2 for use as a contrast agent for PAI	In vivo	Tumour-bearing mouse model/female BALB/c nude mice	[55]
	MNPs	AuNPs combined with AG1478 to enhance irradiation effects on HNSCC cells	In vitro	Human HNSCC cell line HSC-3	[56]
Radiotherapy	Polymeric NPs	PTX co-encapsulated with radio-luminescent CaWO4 NPs within protective capsules formed by biocompatible/biodegradable polymers (PEG-PLA)	In vivo	Immune-deficient non-obese diabetic (NOD) rag gamma (NRG) mice/HN31 xenograft-bearing NRG mice	[57]
	Hydrogel	CDDP-loaded gellan NPs and PTX-loaded liposomes incorporated into hydrogels	In vivo and in vitro	NOD-SCID mice	[58]
	Polymeric NPs	Self-destructive PEG shell and different peptides designed as irinotecan and miR-200 nanovectors	In vivo	Male BALB/c nude mice	[59]
Chemotherapy	Liposomes	Lipid-based mTHPC nanovesicles	In vitro	FaDu (human pharynx squamous cell carcinoma) cell line	[60]
	MNPs	AuNPs coated with glucose and CDDP	In vivo	Nude mice	[61]
	Quantum dots	GE11‐modified GQDs used as drug carriers for clinical chemotherapeutics CDDP and DOX	In vivo	Balb/C nude mice	[62]
	Polymeric NPs	Self-destructive PEG shell and different peptides were designed as irinotecan and miR-200 nanovectors	In vivo	Male BALB/c nude mice	[59]
Gene therapy	MNPs	T-cells loaded with citrate-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles	In vitro	T lymphocytes from mouse lymphoma	[63]
Immunotherapy	Polymeric NPs	ALA and MTHFD1L shRNA loaded CS-TPP NPs	In vivo	BALB/c nude mice	[64]
Photodynamic therapy (PDT)	Hydrogel	Nano DOX-ICG matrix MMP-responsive hydrogel	In vivo	BALB/c nude mice	[65]
	Liposomes	PS-lipid conjugates (lipo-IRDye700DX and lipo-BPD-PC)	In vivo	Nude mice	[66]
	MNPs	Transformable NCs composed of ICG, Fe3O4, and PAA with pH-responsive PEG-b-PAEMA-PDMA	In vivo	Female BALB/c mice/HNE-1 cell line	[67]
	Quantum dots	PEG-conjugated GQDs	In vivo	Wild-type C3H mice	[68]
	Hydrogel	Protein hybrid hydrogel (E72-chitosan-Ag3AuS2)	In vivo	BALB/c nude mice	[69]
Photothermal therapy (PTT)	Polymeric NPs	Hybrid NPs of organic compound encapsulated in PEG-PCL with ICG	In vivo	Nude mice	[70]
	Liposomes	iRGD-PEG-DSPE lipid	In vivo	Immunodeficient (SCID) mice	[71]
	Mesoporous silica	Photo-triggered AuND-capped MSN loaded with Cap	In vivo	Immunodeficient (SCID) mice	[71]
	MNPs	t NAs-cisPt	In vitro	Human squamous cell carcinoma SCC-25	[72]