Methylene Blue-Loaded Mesoporous Silica-Coated Gold Nanorods on Graphene Oxide for Synergistic Photothermal and Photodynamic Therapy

Abstract

Photo-nanotheranostics integrates near-infrared (NIR) light-triggered diagnostics and therapeutics, which are combined into a novel all-in-one phototheranostic nanomaterial that holds great promise for the early detection and precise treatment of cancer. In this study, we developed methylene blue-loaded mesoporous silica-coated gold nanorods on graphene oxide (MB-GNR@mSiO2-GO) as an all-in-one photo-nanotheranostic agent for intracellular surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) imaging-guided photothermal therapy (PTT)/photodynamic therapy (PDT) for cancer. Amine functionalization of the MB-GNR@mSiO2 surfaces was performed using 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES), which was well anchored on the carboxyl groups of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets uniformly, and showed a remarkably higher photothermal conversion efficiency (48.93%), resulting in outstanding PTT/PDT for cancer. The in vitro photothermal/photodynamic effect of MB-GNR@mSiO2-GO with laser irradiation showed significantly reduced cell viability (6.32%), indicating that MB-GNR@mSiO2-GO with laser irradiation induced significantly more cell deaths. Under laser irradiation, MB-GNR@mSiO2-GO showed a strong SERS effect, which permits accurate cancer cell detection by SERS imaging. Subsequently, the same Raman laser can focus on highly detected MDA-MB-23l cells for a prolonged time to perform PTT/PDT. Therefore, MB-GNR@mSiO2-GO has great potential for precise SERS imaging-guided synergistic PTT/PDT for cancer.

Triphenylphosphonium-Functionalized Gold Nanorod/Zinc Oxide Core–Shell Nanocomposites for Mitochondrial-Targeted Phototherapy

“…By increasing the calcination temperature, the average length of the GNR core significantly decreased in the LSPR peak, as confirmed by morphological and optical characterization [ 29 ]. After conjugation with CTPP, the UV–vis absorption spectra of the CTPP-GNR@ZnO core–shell nanocomposites revealed a distinctive CTPP peak at 265 nm and a significant LSPR peak at 760 nm, suggesting that the mitochondrial-targeting CTPP molecule was efficiently conjugated on the surface of the GNR@ZnO core–shell nanocomposites, which is a highly efficient NIR phototherapy agent owing to its highly efficient capacity to generate photothermal heat and ROS [ 49 ].…”

Biocompatible Calcium Ion-Doped Magnesium Ferrite Nanoparticles as a New Family of Photothermal Therapeutic Materials for Cancer Treatment

“…As shown in Figure 6 b and Figure S11 , the strong green fluorescence signal was almost undetectable in the control only, control + laser-irradiated, and Ca 2+ -doped MgFe 2 O 4 NPs (125 µg/mL), which did not affect cancer cells. In contrast, Ca 2+ -doped MgFe 2 O 4 NPs (125 µg/mL) caused strong fluorescence signals after the laser irradiation, which could lead to the production of ROS and damage biomolecules, mitochondria, and nuclei [ 54 ]. To evaluate the cell death mode after PT, cell apoptosis was also evaluated using flow cytometry ( Figure 7 ).…”

Progress of Mesoporous Silica Coated Gold Nanorods for Biological Imaging and Cancer Therapy

“…Raman scattering imaging-guided PTT/PDT [147] TLyp-1 peptide functionalized, indocyanine green-contained GNR@MSN (I-TMSG)…”

“…Sun-Hwa Seo et al developed a multifunctional photothermal agent that guides synergistic PTT and PDT by laser-triggered intracellular SERS imaging. [147] Liu et al developed a GNR@MSN-based modified target peptide (tLyp-1) and ICG loaded nanodrug system co-delivering microRNA, lethal-7a and Paclitaxel. [148] The nanocomposite, with dual functions of targeting fluorescence probes and PTT contrast agents, can combine GNRs-based photothermal ablation and ICG-mediated fluorescence imaging under NIR illumination.…”

“…Sun‐Hwa Seo et al. developed a multifunctional photothermal agent that guides synergistic PTT and PDT by laser‐triggered intracellular SERS imaging [147] . Liu et al.…”