Table 3.

Summary of the characteristics of the major types of cancer therapies

Classification	Types	Materials	Remarks	Ref.
Monotherapy	Chemotherapy	BP–OP	Chemotherapy has achieved considerable success but is hindered by limited treatment efficacy and undesirable side effects, and it can lead to drug resistance.	[ 47 ]
	PTT	BP–Au	PTT has received increased attention due to its noninvasiveness, biocompatibility, and precision targeting of tumors, but it fails to kill metastatic tumor cells.	[ 50 ]
		NB@BP		[ 65 ]
	PDT	UCNPs−BPNs	PDT has become a promising treatment modality due to its significant effectiveness, specific spatiotemporal selectivity, minimal invasiveness, and limited side effects, but it is limited by the excitation wavelength and hypoxia at the tumor site.	[ 52 ]
		Pt@BP		[ 51 ]
		Cy5–dHeme–BPNS–FA		[ 195 ]
		R–MnO2–FBP		[ 196 ]
	GT	Cas9N3–BPs	An ideal DDS for GT is the key to expanding its practical application, to protect oligonucleotides from enzymatic degradation, promote cell uptake with high transfection efficiency, and intelligently release oligonucleotides from the DDS.	[ 56 ]
	SDT	Au@BP	SDT as a new cancer therapy with unique advantages in tissue permeability has emerged gradually in recent years but is often limited by poor stability, toxicity, biodegradability, and low ROS production yield.	[ 217 ]
Bimodal therapy	PTT/chemotherapy	BP–DOX@PDA–PEOz	PTT enhances drug uptake, improves targeting, and prolongs drug release time for chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment paradigm for killing metastatic tumor cells when PTT fails.	[ 46 ]
		BP–HSA–PTX		[ 45 ]
		BPQDs–PEG–FA/DOX		[ 81 ]
		BP–PEG–FA/DOX		[ 72 ]
		BP@MTX–HA		[ 68 ]
		BP–AuNPs		[ 70 ]
		BP@Hydrogel		[ 92 ]
		BP–GEM–GEL		[ 93 ]
	PTT/PDT	Genipin–polyglutamic acid–Fe3O4–CDs@BPQDs	PTT can promote the cellular uptake of photosensitizers and accelerate blood flow to increase vascular oxygen saturation, which can enhance PDT efficacy.	[ 226 ]
		UCNP–BPNS		[ 53 ]
		BPs@Au@Fe3O4		[ 48 ]
		BP@PEG/Ce6		[ 44 ]
		BP@PDA–Ce6&TPP		[ 75 ]
		BP–PEI/AuNPs		[ 73 ]
	PTT/GT	BPQDs@PAH/siRNA	By increasing the tumor cells’ uptake of genes and accelerating gene release from DDSs, PTT can cooperatively enhance GT and lead to more efficient gene delivery. GT can in turn enhance PTT by specifically inhibiting heat shock protein expression and reducing the resistance of cancer cells to heat damage.	[ 54 ]
		BP–PEI–siRNA		[ 57 ]
	PTT/CDT	BP@Cu	Without additional conditions such as light and ultrasound, only H2O2 can be used to eliminate tumors all the time, so it is often combined with PTT for collaborative antitumor action.	[ 60 ]
		dSIS–BPNs–PDA@Ag		[ 238 ]
Multimodal therapy	PTT/PDT/chemotherapy	BP–DOX	The local, continuous hyperthermia caused by PTT promotes the release of drugs from DDSs to enhance chemotherapy and simultaneously increase membrane permeability to promote PDT. Chemotherapy targets the nucleus, whereas PDT usually causes oxidative damage to the organelles. PTT provides more opportunities for chemotherapy and PDT to get inside cancer cells.	[ 41 ]
		BPNs–PDA–PEG–PEITC/DOX		[ 67 ]
	PTT/PDT/GT	PPBP–siRNA	An ideal carrier and a combination of PDT/PTT can address the deficiencies of GT. BP not only can be used as a high‐quality DDS for GT but also is a very efficient photosensitizer for PDT and possesses NIR photothermal properties for PTT.	[ 55 ]
	PTT/chemotherapy/GT	BP–R–D@PDA–PEG–Apt	By the co‐encapsulation of a drug and siRNA into a photothermal nanocarrier, the combination can be realized within a single nanostructure. PTT can enhance the tumor cell uptake of the drug and siRNA, resulting in a remarkable trimodal synergistic therapeutic effect.	[ 74 ]
	PTT/PDT/CDT	FeOCl@PB@PDA@BPQDs@Mn	Not only can PTT promote cellular uptake and accelerate blood flow to increase the vascular oxygen saturation of PDT, but it also is appropriate for CDT, enhancing the efficacy of both PDT and CDT.	[ 115 ]
	PTT/PDT/chemotherapy/immunotherapy	BP–DcF@sPL	Immunotherapy can distinguish between cancer cells and normal cells, thereby effectively improving treatment efficiency and minimizing side effects. PTT, PDT, and chemotherapy can also trigger the immune system.	[ 58 ]
	PTT/PDT/CDT/immunotherapy	FePt/BP–PEI–FA	Apart from reciprocal promotion among PTT, PDT, and CDT, PTT is capable of enhancing immunotherapy by inhibiting metastatic tumor growth, because it stimulates the host immune system to release tumor antigens into the tumor microenvironment and promotes the expression of tumor‐derived antigens to the T cells.	[ 249 ]
Other therapy	Chemotherapy/antiinflammatory therapy	RBC@BPQDs‐DOX/KIR	Infiltration of immune cells promotes tumorigenesis, invasion, and metastasis in tumor microenvironments. Antiinflammatory therapy is particularly necessary for removing tumors and preventing drug resistance.	[ 48 ]
	Cell autophagy and apoptosis	PLT@BPQDs‐HED	Autophagy protects organelles from damage while at the same time killing the tumor. Apoptosis is one mechanism of cell death. The promotion of mitochondria‐mediated cell apoptosis and autophagy is beneficial against tumors.	[ 82 ]