Design of drug delivery systems for physical energy-induced chemical surgery

Physical energy-induced chemical surgery, a technique that induces antitumor effects by delivering a drug that exerts a therapeutic effect in response to physical energy and irradiating the diseased part with the corresponding physical energy, is a useful method to treat cancers with minimal systemic side effects. Among chemical surgery, photodynamic therapy (PDT) and neutron capture therapy (NCT) require a system that selectively delivers drugs to the diseased site. Although PDT and NCT have a similar concept, drug delivery systems (DDSs) for their purpose need different functions to solve the unique problems derived from the characteristics of respective physical energy. In this review, we will describe recent chemistry-based solutions including ours to overcome these challenges.