A deep penetrating and pH-responsive composite nanosystem was strategically developed to improve the efficacy of synergetic photothermal/photodynamic therapy (PTT/PDT) against hypoxic tumor. The designed nanosystem ([PHC]­PP@HA NPs) was constructed by coloading hemoglobin (Hb) and chlorin e6 on polydopamine to build small-sized PHC NPs, which were encapsulated inside the polymer micelles (poly­(ethylene glycol)–poly­(ethylenimine)) and then capped with functionalized hyaluronic acid. The pH-responsive feature made [PHC]­PP@HA NPs retain an initial size of ∼140 nm in blood circulation but rapidly release small PHC NPs (∼10 nm) with a high tumor-penetrating ability in the tumor microenvironment. The in vitro penetration experiment showed that the penetration depth of PHC NPs in the multicellular tumor spheroids exceeded 110 μm. The [PHC]­PP@HA NPs exhibited excellent biocompatibility, deep tumor permeability, high photothermal conversion efficiency (47.09%), and low combination index (0.59) under hypoxic conditions. Notably, the nanosystem can freely adjust the release of oxygen and damaging PHC NPs in an on-demand manner on the basis of the feedback of tumor activity. This feedback tumor therapy significantly improved the synergistic effect of PTT/PDT and reduced its toxic side effects. The in vivo antitumor results showed that the tumor inhibition rate of [PHC]­PP@HA NPs with an on-demand oxygen supply of Hb was ∼100%, which was much better than those of PTT alone and Hb-free nanoparticles ([PC]­PP@HA NPs). Consequently, the [PHC]­PP@HA NP-mediated PTT/PDT guided by feedback tumor therapy achieved an efficient tumor ablation with an extremely low tumor recurrence rate (8.3%) 60 d later, indicating the versatile potential of PTT/PDT.

Long blood circulation in vivo remains a challenge to dual-drug-loaded nanocarriers for synergistic chemotherapy. Herein, a novel strategy to prepare lollipop-like dual-drug-loaded nanoparticles (DOX-PDAgossypol NPs) is developed based on the self-assembly of gossypol, doxorubicin (DOX), and polydopamine (PDA) via π-π stacking. Dopamine polymerizes to PDA and fills the gaps between the gossypol and DOX molecules to form the super compact long-circulating nanoparticles. The DOX-PDA-gossypol NPs show a suitable particle size of 59.6 ± 9.6 nm, high drug loading of 91%, superb stability, high maximum-tolerated dose (MTD) of over 60 mg kg -1 , and negligible toxicity. These NPs also exhibit pH-dependent drug release and low combination index (0.23). Notably, they show dramatically ultralong blood circulation (>192 h) with elimination half times 458-fold and 258-fold longer than that of free DOX and free gossypol, respectively. These values are markedly higher than most of the reported results. Therefore, the DOX-PDA-gossypol NPs have a high tumor accumulation of 12% remaining on the 8th day postinjection. This characteristic contributes to the excellent tumor comprehensive synergistic therapeutic efficacy (TIR > 90%) with low administration dosage and is benefitted for widening the drug therapeutic window. Thus, the proposed strategy has remarkable potential for tumor synergistic therapy.The ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201805582. Recent studies have developed various methods to prolong the blood circulation of NCS. These methods mainly include the surface modification of hydrophilic polymers or nonionic Tumor Therapy

A novel strategy called “two‐stage dual‐synergistic tumor therapy (TDTT),” which combines photothermal therapy with infinite coordination polymers (ICPs) chemotherapy at the first stage in the short term and two drugs of ICPs synergistic chemotherapy (coordinated dual drugs chemotherapy) at the second stage in the long term, is proposed. This strategy is achieved by preparing IR780‐loaded hyaluronic acid (HA) encapsulated gossypol–Fe(III)–epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) ICP nanoparticles (HA@IRGFE ICP NPs), which have IR780 inclusions, a natural gossypol, and EGCG coordinated with Fe3+ framework, and a HA shell. It is found that the HA@IRGFE ICP NPs’ diameter is 120.0 ± 39.5 nm and has tumor‐targeting ability and can be rapidly released in tumor environment. Their photothermal conversion efficiency is greatly improved to 47.8%, and the total combination index of TDTT is 0.38, which indicates an excellent synergistic therapy result. These HA@IRGFE ICP NPs show low toxicity with a high tolerated dose (30.0 mg kg−1), a high tumor inhibition rate of 98.7%, and a very low tumor recurrence rate over 60 days (12.5%) with TDTT strategy, indicating their great potential applications in the field of tumor therapy.

Metastasis is one of the major obstacles hindering the success of cancer therapy. The directed nanoassembly of probucol results in the "DNP" system, which greatly improves the oral delivery of probucol and subsequently leads to a novel therapeutic efficacy of probucol in the suppression of lung metastasis of breast cancer. DNP is formed by employing the intermolecular hydrophobic interactions between probucol and polyethylene glycol p-(1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl)-phenyl ether (also known as Triton X-100). After oral administration, the probucol concentration in the intestines is surprisingly about 200 times higher if it is applied as DNP rather than free probucol; it can be absorbed into intestinal enterocytes via clathrin-mediated endocytosis and transported into the systemic circulation through the lymphatic pathway. Moreover, the oral bioavailability of probucol is significantly higher-13.55 times higher-when applied as DNP in place of free probucol. The drug concentration in major organs is also significantly increased. The in vitro measurements show that the migration and invasion abilities of 4T1 cells are obviously inhibited by DNP. In particular, in an orthotopic metastatic breast cancer model, the notable suppression of lung metastasis from DNP is observed, but no effect is seen from the free-probucol suspension. As a result, the directed drug nanoassembly may open a new route for enhancing oral drug delivery and enable new therapeutic abilities for probucol against cancer metastasis.

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