Preparation and antitumor of hyaluronic acid-human serum albumin-indocyanine green-paclitaxel nanoparticles

Human serum albumin (HSA)-indocyanine green (ICG)-paclitaxel (PTX) nanoparticles have been prepared for tumor photothermal-photodynamic-chemotherapy, which was inevitably internalized by normal cells. Here, hyaluronic acid (HA)-HSA-ICG-PTX nanoparticles were designed for active targeting mediated tumor multimodal therapy. HA as a ligand imparted the characteristics of the nanoparticles to specifically target the CD44 receptors overexpressed tumor cells, while enhancing the stability of the nanoparticles. HSA-ICG-PTX@HA nanoparticles were selectively internalized by CD44 overexpressed cervical and breast cancer (Hela and MCF-7) cells, rather than normal (293) cells lacking the receptor. Moreover, compared with HSA-ICG-PTX nanoparticles, HSA-ICG-PTX@HA nanoparticles exhibited improved tumor cell uptake and cytotoxicity, as well as enhanced photothermal effects and tumor suppressor effects. Therefore, tumor-targeting, human serum protein-based nanoparticles entirely consisting of FDA-approved compounds were demonstrated for fluorescent-photoacoustic-photothermal imaging mediated multimodal tumor therapy.