Temperature-Sensitive Lipid-Coated Carbon Nanotubes for Synergistic Photothermal Therapy and Gene Therapy

Abstract

The combination of photothermal therapy (PTT) and gene therapy (GT) shows great potential to achieve synergistic anti-tumor activity. However, the lack of a controlled release of genes from carriers remains a severe hindrance. Herein, peptide lipid (PL) and sucrose laurate (SL) were used to coat single-walled carbon nanotubes (SCNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MCNTs) to form bifunctional delivery systems (denoted SCNT-PS and MCNT-PS, respectively) with excellent temperature-sensitivity and photothermal performance. CNT/siRNA suppressed tumor growth by silencing survivin expression while exhibiting photothermal effects under near-infrared (NIR) light. SCNT-PS/siRNA showed very high anti-tumor activity, resulting in the complete inhibition of some tumors. It was highly efficient for systemic delivery to tumor sites and to facilitate siRNA release owing to the phase transition of the temperature-sensitive lipids, due to PL and SL coating. Thus, SCNT-PS/siRNA is a promising anti-tumor nanocarrier for combined PTT and GT.

Nanobiotechnology‐enabled energy utilization elevation for augmenting minimally‐invasive and noninvasive oncology thermal ablation

“…Ultimately, the combination of gene therapy and PTA resulted in objective tumor eradication. In particular, as the capping agents (i.e., peptide lipids and sucrose laurate) are temperature-sensitive, the PT-triggered phase-change of capping agents could allowed the encapsulated siRNA to escape encapsulation once arriving at tumor and experiencing NIR irradiation, exhibiting an on-demand release property (Zhao et al, 2021).…”

Lipid-based nanoparticles for photosensitive drug delivery systems

“…Studies on carbon-modified lipid NPs are summarized in Table 5 . Lipid-coated carbon nanotubes were utilized in conjunction with small interfering RNA for photothermal gene therapy (Zhao et al 2021 ). Carbon nanotubes were coated with peptide lipids and sucrose laurate, and this complex exhibited a phase transition temperature of 42 °C.…”

“…B Lipid-coated carbon nanotube for photothermal-gene therapy. Permission from Zhao et al ( 2021 ). C Photosensitizer and iron oxide nanocluster-loaded lipid NP for photo/chemodynamic therapy.…”

A multifunctional α-Fe2O3@PEDOT core–shell nanoplatform for gene and photothermal combination anticancer therapy

“…To this end, the combination of PTT and gene therapy has attracted increasing attention in current studies due to its superiority for increasing therapeutic efficacy under mild conditions. 19,20 Gene therapy is considered to be a safe and effective treatment using exogenous nucleic acids as therapeutic agents, and has the potential to depress oncogenes and restrain the proliferation of intractable tumors. [21][22][23][24][25] Small interfering RNA (siRNA), as an effective carrier of RNA interference, can silence the expression of HSPs by inhibiting the expression of specific genes, thereby suppressing heat shock response and making cancer cells more sensitive to PTT.…”