TPGS and cypate gated mesoporous carbon for enhanced thermochemotherapy of tumor

Thermo-chemotherapy could improve the therapeutic effects of single chemotherapy with the help of cytotoxic heat produced by the PTT (photothermal therapy). The photothermal conversion property of material needs to be preferentially considered in the design the drug delivery in the thermo-chemotherapy. Therefore, in this work, mesoporous carbon nanoparticles (MCN) with excellent heat generating efficiency and high surface area was designed. And the NIR absorbing dye cypate was conjugated on the surface of MCN by the cleavable disulfide bonds to hinder the premature release of doxorubicin (DOX) and enhance the photothermal properties of MCN-based delivery systems. And then TPGS was further covered on the surface of MCN by hydrophobic force to prolong circulation time and improve the biocompatibility and dispersion stability of MCN-CyT in physiological environment. The release of DOX accelerated obviously in the presence of glutathione (GSH), acidic condition and NIR irradiation, indicating that DOX/MCN-CyT exhibited redox/pH/NIR triple-triggered drug release. The anti-tumor experiment indicated that DOX/MCN-CyT showed a synergistic thermo-chemotherapy effect for cancer. Thus, the present research provides huge potential in multi-triggered drug delivery and thermochemotherapy for combination therapy.