It is a great challenge to combat multidrug resistant (MDR)
cancer effectively. To address this issue, we developed a new near-infrared (NIR) triggered chemotherapeutic agent
doxorubicin (DOX) and
photosensitizer indocyanine green (ICG) co-release system by aid of NIR induced photothermal effect of
gold nanocages (AuNCs) and temperature sensitive phase-change property of
1-tetradecanol at its melting point of 39°C, which could simultaneously exerted chemo/photothermal/photodynamic treatment on MDR human
breast cancer MCF-7/ADR cells. This nano-sized system was constructed by filling the interior of AuNCs with DOX, ICG and
1-tetradecanol, and modifying the surface with biotinylated poly (
ethylene glycol) via Au-S bonds, termed as DOX/ICG@
biotin-PEG-AuNC-PCM. The DOX and ICG co-release from DOX/ICG@
biotin-PEG-AuNC-PCM was much faster in PBS at 40°C or under 808nm NIR irradiation at 2.5W/cm2 than at 37°C (e.g. 67.27% or 80.31% vs. 5.57% of DOX, 76.08% vs. 3.83% of ICG for 20min). The flow cytometry and confocal
laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) results showed, the AuNCs were taken up by MCF-7/ADR cells via endocytosis, thus enhancing DOX uptake; the
biotin on AuNCs facilitated this endocytosis; NIR irradiation caused the heating of the AuNCs, triggering the DOX and ICG co-release and enhancing the distribution of DOX in nuclei, the released ICG generated ROS to take
photodynamic therapy. Due to the above unique properties, DOX/ICG@
biotin-PEG-AuNC-PCM exerted excellent anti-
tumor effects under NIR irradiation, its IC50 against MCF-7/ADR cells was very low, only 0.48µg/mL, much smaller than that of free DOX (74.51μg/mL).
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: A new near-infrared (NIR) triggered chemotherapeutic agent
doxorubicin (DOX) and
photosensitizer indocyanine green (ICG) co-release system by aid of NIR induced photothermal effect of
gold nanocages (AuNCs) and temperature sensitive phase-change property of
1-tetradecanol at its melting point of 39°C, was prepared, termed as DOX/ICG@
biotin-PEG-AuNC-PCM, which could simultaneously exerted chemo/photothermal/photodynamic treatment on MDR human
breast cancer MCF-7/ADR cells. DOX/ICG@
biotin-PEG-AuNC-PCM exerted excellent anti-
tumor effects under NIR irradiation, its IC50 against MCF-7/ADR cells was very low, only 0.48µg/mL, much smaller than that of free DOX (74.51μg/mL).