In order to effectively avoid the side effects induced by multiple components and tedious synthesis process, a simple therapy system based on one material to simultaneously realize both photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) under single laser irradiation will promote the overall phototherapeutic efficiency and make the PTT/PDT system easier to operate. Here, by using transferrin (Tf) as protein template, ultrasmall [email protected] nanodots ( [email protected] NDs) were successfully synthesized through a facile one-pot protein-based biomineralization method. The obtained [email protected] NDs exhibited not only excellent photothermal conversion ability (34.4%) but also high photoactivated formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) upon 980 nm near-infrared (NIR) irradiation. By loading the drug doxorubicin (DOX) to [email protected] NDs, a synergistic therapy system with multiple therapeutic effects combined PTT, PDT, chemotherapy (CT) and tumor targeting properties could be perfectly implemented together by [email protected] NDs without any complicated post-modification process. Results from the in vitro cell experiments confirmed that these [email protected] NDs could produce excellent effect on cancer cells with 88.5% cell inhibition rate. In comparison with the complicated systems based on “multiple-components-in-one” strategy, this therapy system based on one single material but possess multifunctional purpose is easy to operate and more suitable for clinical applications.
Yan Liang,Ping-Yu Wang,You-Jie Li,Ze-Yun Liu,Ran-Ran Wang,Guang-Bin Sun,Hong-Fang Sun,Shu-Yang Xie
Reduced drug uptake and elevated drug efflux are two major mechanisms in cancer multidrug resistance (MDR). In the present study, a new multistage O 2 -producing liposome with NAG/R8-dual-ligand and stimuli-responsive dePEGylation was developed to address the abovementioned issues simultaneously. The designed C-NAG-R8-PTXL/MnO 2 -lip could also achieve magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided synergistic chemodynamic/chemotherapy (CDT/CT). In vitro and in vivo studies showed that C-NAG-R8-PTXL/MnO 2 -lip enhanced circulation time by PEG and targeted the tumor site. After tumor accumulation, endogenous l -cysteine was administered, and the PEG-attached disulfide bond was broken, resulting in the dissociation of PEG shells. The previously hidden positively charged R8 by different lengths of PEG chains was exposed and mediated efficient internalization. In addition, the oxygen (O 2 ) generated by C-NAG-R8-PTXL/MnO 2 -lip relieved the hypoxic environment within the tumor, thus reducing the efflux of chemotherapeutic drug. O 2 was able to burst liposomes and triggered the release of PTXL . The toxic hydroxyl radical (·OH), which was produced by H 2 O 2 and Mn 2+ , strengthened CDT/CT. C-NAG-R8-PTXL/MnO 2 -lip was also used as MRI contrast agent , which blazed the trail to rationally design theranostic agents for tumor imaging.