Application and Development of Chitosan-based Delivery Systems in Tumor Photothermal Therapy

Tumor continues to invade human health. As a new method of tumor treatment, photothermal therapy has received more and more attention. Chitosan is a kind of cationic polysaccharide with rich natural sources, which has good biocompatibility, degradability and structural derivatization characteristics. Since the skeleton of chitosan and its derivatives contains a large number of amino and hydroxyl groups, chitosan and its derivatives can act as carriers in form of nanoparticles, hydrogels, coatings and others by physical or chemical methods to load photothermal conversion agents and facilitate their effect of killing tumor cells under near-infrared laser radiation. This review systematically introduces the research progress of chitosan-based delivery systems in tumor photothermal therapy.