Highly Efficient Photothermal Therapy with Cell-Penetrating Peptide-Modified Bumpy Au Triangular Nanoprisms using Low Laser Power and Low Probe Dose

Abstract

Photothermal therapy (PTT) exploits nanomaterials with optimal heat conversion and cellular penetration using near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation. However, current PTT agents suffer from inefficient heat conversion, poor intracellular delivery, and a high dose of probes along with excessive laser irradiation, causing limited therapeutic outcomes. Here, bumpy Au triangular nanoprisms (BATrisms) are developed for increasing the surface area, improving cell penetration, shifting the absorption peak to the NIR region, and enhancing the photothermal conversion efficiency (∼86%). Further, leucine (L)-and lysine (K)-rich cell-penetrating peptides (LK peptides) were employed to largely improve their cellular uptake efficiency. Importantly, a significant in vivo therapeutic efficacy with LK-BATrisms was demonstrated in a triple-negative breast cancer xenograft mice model. A very small dose of LK-BATrism (2.5 μg Au) was enough to exert antitumor efficacy under very low laser power (808 nm, 0.25 W/cm 2 ), causing minimal tissue damages while very efficiently killing cancer cells.

Applications of Aptamer-Bound Nanomaterials in Cancer Therapy

“…PTT has gained much attention in the field of cancer therapy since Goldman used laser irradiation to remove tumors in 1966 [ 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]. Owing to its minimal toxicity, noninvasiveness, convenient operation, and low recurrence, PTT showed great promise for cancer therapy.…”

Combination of peptides with biological, organic, and inorganic materials for synergistically enhanced diagnostics and therapeutics

“…developed a novel PTT agent composed of peptides and bumpy Au triangular nanoprisms (BATrisms, Figure 3A). [107] The anisotropic morphology and rough surface of BATrisms allowed the PICs to exhibit a promising PTT conversion efficiency (~86%) by enhancing the electromagnetic field. Efficient delivery of PICs into tumor cells was achieved by the conjugation of a cell-penetrating peptide, [108,109] the leucine-and lysine-rich peptide (LK peptide, LKKLLKLLKKLLKLGGLKKLLKLLKKLLKLAG), to the surface of BATrisms.…”

Carambola-like Bi2Te3 superstructures with enhanced photoabsorption for highly efficient photothermal therapy in the second near-infrared biowindow

“…1 Compared with traditional cancer treatments, for instance chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery, 2 photothermal therapy (PTT) is a promising alternative strategy due to its fascinating advantages, including minimal invasiveness, high spatial controllability and being less harmful to normal tissues. 3,4 Most of the nanomaterials with good absorbance in the near-infrared (NIR) region have been explored due to their potential applications in PTT, including noble metal materials, [5][6][7] carbon-based nanomaterials, [8][9][10] metal chalcogenide nanomaterials, 11,12 and so on. However, the majority of photothermal agents (PTAs) are triggered by light in the first NIR biowindow (NIR-I, 750-1000 nm) for PTT, which dramatically limits their use in clinical applications due to their low maximum permissible exposure (MPE, 0.33 W cm À2 for 808 nm).…”