Graphene oxide (GO) modified with hyaluronic acid (HA) and Arg-gly-asp peptide (RGD) was designed as a dual-receptor targeting drug delivery system to enhance the specificity and efficiency of anticancer drug delivery. Firstly, GO-HA-RGD conjugate was characterized to reveal its structure and morphology. Whereafter, doxorubicin (Dox) as a model drug was loaded on GO-HA-RGD carrier, which displayed a high loading rate (72.9%, GO:Dox (w/w) = 1:1), pH-response and sustained drug release behavior. Cytotoxicity experiments showed that GO-HA-RGD possessed excellent biocompatibility towards SKOV-3 and HOSEpiC cells. Additionally, the GO-HA-RGD/Dox had a stronger cytotoxicity for SKOV-3 cells than either GO-HA/Dox (single receptor) or GO/Dox (no receptor). Moreover, celluar uptake studies illustrated that GO-HA-RGD conjugate could be effectively taken up by SKOV-3 cells via a synergic effect of CD44-HA and integrin-RGD mediated endocytosis. Hence, GO-HA-RGD nanocarrier is able to be a promising platform for targeted cancer therapeutic.
In addition to tumor cells, M2-like tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) also promote tumor progression. Accordingly, the strategy of targeted depletion or repolarization of M2-like TAMs becomes attractive. Here, we report a dual-targeting nanoagent SAMMH to tumor cells and M2-like TAMs for combinatorial tumor treatment. After co-loading the sonosensitizer spafloxacin (SPX) and oxidative phosphorylation inhibitor atavaquone (ATO) into hollow MnO 2 , the addition of Fe 3+ and tannic acid-immobilized hyaluronic acid (HA) caused the formation of SAMMH through generating metal-polyphenol networks (MPNs) coatings outside. In vitro endocytosis assays demonstrated the efficient internalization of SAMMH by both tumor cells and M2-like TAMs through the specific CD44-HA interactions. The GSH-sensitive degradation of SAMMH results in the continuous release of SPX and ATO. Meanwhile, SAMMH could catalyze the endogenous H 2 O 2 to extra O 2 , thus improving the therapeutic effect via the combination of Mn 2+ -induced CDT and O 2 -generation/O 2 -economy dual-enhanced sonodynamic therapy (SDT). Interestingly, SAMMH had a good targeted M2-like TAMs depleting capacity and could promote M2-to-M1 TAMs transformation by CDT-enhanced SDT, leading to a combinational anti-tumor effect. This dual-targeting nanoagent is a promising candidate to achieve CDT-enhanced SDT against both tumor cells and M2-like TAMs, thus providing new insights for the development of highly effective antitumor therapeutics.