Dual-Targeted Selenium Nanoparticles for Synergistic Photothermal Therapy and Chemotherapy of Tumors

Graphical Turning up the heat : A dual-targeted nanosystem (SeNPs-DOX-ICG-RP) composed of selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs), doxorubicin (DOX), indocyanine green (ICG), and RC-12 and PG-6 peptides (RP) undergoes self-immolated cleavage under near-IR irradiation and releases the loaded drug for precise drug delivery through a combination of chemo- and photothermal therapy (see figure). A combination of chemo- and photothermal therapy has emerged as a promising tactic for cancer therapy. However, the intricacy of accurate delivery and the ability to initiate drug release in specific tumor sites remains a challenging puzzle. Hence, to assure that the chemotherapeutic drug and photothermal agent are synchronously delivered to a tumor area for their synergistic effect, dual-target (RC-12 and PG-6 peptides) functionalized selenium nanoparticles loaded with both doxorubicin (DOX) and indocyanine green (ICG) were designed and successfully synthesized. The as-synthesized nanoparticles exhibited good monodispersity, size stability, and consistent spectral characteristics compared with those of ICG or DOX alone. The nanoparticles underwent self-immolated cleavage under irradiation from a near-IR laser and released the loaded drug owing to sufficient hyperthermia. Moreover, the internalized nanoparticles triggered the overproduction of intracellular reactive oxygen species to induce cell apoptosis. Taken together, this study provides a sequentially triggered nanosystem to achieve precise drug delivery by chemo-photothermal combination.