Glutathione-Sensitive Mesoporous Organosilica-Coated Gold Nanorods as Drug Delivery System for Photothermal Therapy-Enhanced Precise Chemotherapy

Abstract

The combination of photothermal therapy (PTT) and chemotherapy can remarkably improve the permeability of the cell membrane and reduce the concentration of chemotherapy agents that not only kill the tumor cells effectively but also have adverse effects on normal tissues. It is of great meaning to construct nanomaterials that could be simultaneously applied for tumor eradication with PTT and chemotherapy. In this work, we developed a novel gold nanorod coated with mesoporous organosilica nanoparticles (oMSN-GNR), which presented as an optimal photothermal contrast agent. Moreover, after doxorubicin loading (oMSN-GNR–DOX), the organosilica shell exhibited biodegradable properties under high glutathione in the tumor microenvironment, resulting in massively releasing doxorubicin to kill tumor cells. More importantly, the hyperthermia effect of GNR cores under near-infrared light provided promising opportunities for localized photothermal ablation in vivo. Therefore, the combination of precise chemotherapy and highly effective PTT successfully inhibited tumor growth in liver tumor-bearing mice. This versatile synergistic therapy with local heating and chemotherapeutics precise release opens up the potential clinical application of PTT and chemotherapy therapeutics for malignant tumor eradication.

Light-initiated aggregation of gold nanoparticles for synergistic chemo-photothermal tumor therapy

“…S7, † the cellular uptake of DOX was remarkably enhanced if tumor cells were irradiated by the 808 nm laser (0.5 W cm −2 , 10 min), implying that the local temperature rise can promote the cellular uptake of DOX, which is quite consistent with that of previously reported studies. [68][69][70] Moreover, the synergistic chemo-photothermal effect of tm-AuNPs on 4T1 cells was quantitatively characterized by the CCK-8 assay and live/dead assay. The cell viabilities of tm-AuNPs + l 405nm + HT and Dox + tm-AuNPs + l 405nm groups were 87.53% and 78.68% (Fig.…”

Mesoporous silica/organosilica nanoparticles for cancer immunotherapy

“…[33] In addition to the preparation of whole degradable nanoparticles, degradable organosilica can be used as a gating material for controlled release of payload. [34,35] Such a design avoids the premature release of cargo, which can potentially improve the efficacy of nanoformulations and reduce possible side effects.…”