Chiral nanomaterials for tumor therapy: autophagy, apoptosis, and photothermal ablation

Chirality is a fundamental characteristic of natural molecules and a crucial factor in the biochemical reactions of living cells and organisms. Recently, researchers have successfully introduced chiral molecules to the surfaces of nanomaterials, creating chiral nanomaterials that exhibit an upscaling of chiral behavior from the molecular scale to the nanoscale. These chiral nanomaterials can selectively induce autophagy, apoptosis, and photothermal ablation in tumor cells based on their chirality, making them promising for application in anti-tumor therapy. However, these interesting and important phenomena have hitherto received little attention. Accordingly, we herein present a review of recent research progress in the field of chiral nanomaterials for tumor therapy along with brief looks at the mechanistic details of their actions. Finally, the current challenges and future perspectives of chiral nanomaterials in terms of maximizing their potential in tumor therapy are discussed. Thus, this review provides a helpful introduction to the design of chiral nanomaterials and will hopefully highlight the importance of chirality in tumor therapy.