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Recently, photothermal therapy (PTT) has attracted tremendous attention because of its high efficacy in tumor ablation and minimal damage to normal tissues. While many inorganic nanomaterials, especially various gold nanostructures and nanocarbons, have been extensively explored for near-infrared (NIR) light triggered PTT in the past decade, a variety of organic photothermal agents have also emerged in recent years, aiming at replacing their inorganic counterparts which usually are not biodegradable. In this mini-review, we will summarize several typical classes of recently developed NIR-absorbing organic PTT nanoagents, which include NIR dye-containing micelles, porphysomes, protein-based agents, conjugated polymers, and organic/inorganic nanocomposites. The development of imaging-guided PTT and combination therapy will be introduced as well. Finally, the perspectives and challenges in the future development of PTT will be discussed.

Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 16 September 2014
Revised: 16 October 2014
Accepted: 20 October 2014
Published: 21 November 2014
Issue date: February 2015

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (Nos. 2012CB932600 and 2011CB911002), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51222203), the Jiangsu Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, the Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices, and a Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development (PAPD) of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.

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