The adverse effects of chemotherapeutic drugs to healthy organs/cells greatly limit their clinical efficacy and patient compliance. The unique behavior of azobenzene photoswitch offers a remarkable tool to address the side effects of chemotherapeutic drugs. The azobenzene moiety has been integrated within some chemotherapeutic drugs to realize photo‐triggered activation of drug cytotoxicity. However, the clinical translation of these agents has been facing a few barriers. In this short review, we present our viewpoints on potential solutions to address the following challenges associated with azobenzene‐based photoswitchable chemotherapeutic drugs, including poor tissue penetration of light, hypoxia‐induced drug degradation in solid tumor and the autonomous cis‐trans relaxation.

中文翻译：

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偶氮苯光开关用于通过偶氮-考布他汀 A4 和光曲沙酯进行异构化依赖性癌症治疗

化疗药物对健康器官/细胞的副作用极大地限制了它们的临床疗效和患者依从性。偶氮苯光开关的独特行为为解决化疗药物的副作用提供了一种非凡的工具。偶氮苯部分已被整合到一些化疗药物中，以实现药物细胞毒性的光触发激活。然而，这些药物的临床转化一直面临一些障碍。在这篇简短的综述中，我们提出了我们对解决以下与偶氮苯类光开关化疗药物相关的挑战的潜在解决方案的看法，包括光的组织穿透性差、实体瘤中缺氧诱导的药物降解和自主顺反式弛豫。