Polydopamine-Coated Nanoparticles A Smart Interface Between Chemistry and Cancer Therapy

The nanoparticles, which are coated with polydopamine (PDA), have become a versatile and promising platform in the treatment of cancer as they possess high biocompatibility, high efficiency in photothermal conversion, and multipurpose surface chemistry. Based on adhesive proteins of mussels, polydopamine surfaces provide a general strategy of surface modification that can be loaded with drugs, targeted, release stimuli-controllable, and multimodal therapeutics. This review will provide a fundamental overview of the chemistry of polydopamine formation and its distinct physicochemical characteristics, discuss the various architectures of PDA-coated nanoparticles, and critically analyze their application in photothermal therapy, chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, immunotherapy, and combination therapies. We provide information about the principles of loading and release of drugs through the PDA, photothermal conversion characteristics that allow accurate tumor ablation, and synergistic outcomes in the multimodal therapeutic strategies. In addition, we discuss the recent problems in clinical translation, such as scalability, biosafety in the long run, regulation, and optimization of pharmacokinetics. Comprising contemporary research and pinpointing areas requiring essential knowledge, this review will serve to generate a plan of action on how PDA-coated nanoparticles can be translated from the bench to the bedside and may eventually help to save more lives in cancer therapy.