Editorial: Next generation nanomaterials for photodynamic therapy

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a clinically approved treatment for oncologic and non-oncologic diseases and has several advantages over conventional oncological treatments, such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery (Dolmans et al., 2003; Correia et al., 2021). The cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by the interaction of non-toxic photoactivable molecules (photosensitizers) with dioxygen leads to cancer cell death with a good cosmetic outcome (Pham et al., 2021). Despite the good progress made with photosensitizer (PS)-mediated PDT, this treatment modality has some limitations, such as PS aggregation, low solubility in physiological media, and tissue/ cell specificity (Gunaydin et al., 2021). Recently, several studies based on hybrid nanoparticles were conducted to improve the selectivity and PDT outcome of PSs (Babu et al., 2022). These hybrid materials can circumvent the limitations of conventional PS drugs, increasing their solubility in biological media and improving PS uptake in targets (Lim et al., 2013). Thus, there is significant room for improvement in new generations of nanomaterials and PS agents that can bring about a novel generation of PSs. The Research Topic ‘Next generation nanomaterials for photodynamic therapy’ comprises five reviews covering recent developments in the fields of nanomaterials for PDT, mechanistic studies, and improving the targeting of nanoplatforms. Uprety et al. explored the potential of quantum dots (QDs) as PSs for PDT. The versatility of QDs was highlighted, particularly their optical properties, which can be finetuned by varying their size. It is worth mentioning that the main advantage of QDs over conventional PSs is the modulation of emission properties within the near IR, consequently allowing deep-light penetration in cancer tissues. Heavy metal QD OPEN ACCESS