Copper Coordination-Based Nanomedicine for Tumor Theranostics

Copper (Cu) is an essential micronutrient for a variety of basic biological processes, including cell metabolism, proliferation, and angiogenesis. Recently, the concept of cuproptosis has been found to be related to the direct binding of Cu to the lipoylated components of the tricarboxylic acid cycle. This further demonstrates the important role of Cu and promotes Cu-involved biomedical research. Currently, Cu-related nanomedicines is mainly based on Cu coordination chemistry, and targeting Cu become a research hotspot for cancer therapy. On one hand, chelating excess Cu in vivo to inhibit angiogenesis, on the other hand, supplementing Cu and Cu-coordinated complexes to produce oxidative stress and proteasome inhibition. In this review, the principles of Cu-coordination chemistry and the biochemical functions of Cu ions are described, and a comprehensive review of Cu-coordinated nanomedicine, including Cu chelation and Cu supplementation, delivery of Cu-coordinated nanodrugs, and Cu-coordinated nanocarriers is provided. Finally, the limitations are analyzed to point out the directions for improvement in future research. It is believed that the development of Cu-coordinated nanomedicine will enter the fast track and show great promise in cancer theranostics. This review describes the coordination chemistry of copper, Cu ions-related biomedical functions, and summarizes the Cu coordination-based nanomedicines and their recent applications in tumor theranostics, through Cu chelating strategies and Cu supplementating strategies.image