zinc oxide nanoparticles in oral cancer therapy: a systematic review of their potential and efficacy

Oral cancer affects people’s health and has an unacceptably high fatality rate. it is the sixth most frequent malignant cancer. there is a critical need for efficient and realistic methods of early detection and treatment of oral cancer at present. this review aimed to evaluate the role of zinc oxide nanoparticles (zno nps) in the treatment of oral cancer. all phases of the study were executed following the prisma standards for the implementation and registration of systematic review articles. a thorough analysis of scientific and research publication databases, including scopus, pubmed, google scholar, web of science, and cochrane, was conducted from early 2013 to 2024. in this systematic review, out of 113 articles, 3 studies remained based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. in all articles, the difference between the group of oral cancer cells exposed to zno nps (intervention group) and the group of oral cancer cells that were not exposed to zno nps (control group) were significant. in general, zno nps showed remarkable capabilities and promising results in cancer treatment. these properties make zno-based nanostructures potentially suitable for cancer treatment. zno nps have an important prospect as future anticancer agents.