Precise synchronization of hyperthermia–chemotherapy: photothermally induced on-demand release from injectable hydrogels of gold nanocages

Though a therapeutic sequence plays a key role in tumor therapy, little attention has been paid to its influence on multimodal combined therapy. Herein, we developed gold nanocages (GNC@PNA-hls) decorated with two kinds of temperature sensitive p(N-isopropyl-acrylamide-acrylic acid) copolymers (PNA-hs and PNA-ls) for precise antitumor coordination of thermo-chemotherapy. Doxorubicin-loaded GNC@PNA-hls (Dox-GNC@PNA-hls) showed a steady photothermally induced on-demand release under multiple near-infrared (NIR) irradiations. In vitro evaluations indicated that concurrent thermo-chemotherapy treatments (Dox − L) showed the best antitumor effect, compared with the sequence of either doxorubicin treatment followed by NIR radiation (Dox + L) or NIR radiation followed by doxorubicin treatment (L + Dox). The in vivo antitumor efficacy also indicated that the tumor volume was totally suppressed (ca. 0.14 cm3) by the treatment of Dox-GNC@PNA-hls with NIR radiation for 14 days. These results indicated that Dox-GNC@PNA-hls could achieve precise synchronization between hyperthermia and chemotherapy, and effectively enhance their antitumor efficacy.