Conventional
chemotherapy usually induces significant side effects
due to its inability to discriminate between cancer and normal cells.
Moreover, the efficacy of cancer elimination is still unsatisfied.
Here, we fabricated a nanocomposite enabling high-performance dual
combination therapy (chemo/photothermal therapy). This style of novel
nanocomposites was constructed with doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded mesoporous
silica gold (MSG) nanorods, which were further camouflaged with hybrid
membranes derived from HeLa cells and red blood cells (HRMSGD). The
hybrid membrane-camouflaged structure showed enhanced circulation
lifetime and cell line-specific delivery of chemotherapeutics both
in vitro and in vivo. The dual combination therapy by HRMSGD showed
an unattainable therapeutic effect, compared with a single treatment,
and inhibited tumor growth significantly. Furthermore, the nanoplatforms
were photoacoustic-responsive, which showed real-time and noninvasive
tracking capability. The present study established nanoplatforms with
hybrid cell membrane-camouflaged multifunctional gold nanorods, which
realized the combination of homotypic targeting, noninvasive tracking,
chemotherapy, and photothermal therapy. To the best of our knowledge,
this is the first study to use a natural membrane to camouflage mesoporous
silica-modified gold nanorods, which opened a new avenue for cancer
treatment.