Although chemo-
radiotherapy has been widely applied in clinics for
cancer treatment, current strategies still face many challenges including serious side-effects and drug resistance. Herein, we develop a chemically cross-linked poly-N,N'-dimethyl
aminoethyl methacrylate (
PDMAEMA) smart
nanogel as an excellent thermosensitive nanocarrier to load both an anticancer drug,
doxorubicin (DOX) and a
radioisotope, 131I-labeled
albumin, for enhanced chemo-
radioisotope therapy. Such a
PDMAEMA nanogel in the
solution form at room temperature can be easily injected into a
tumor, in which it would be transformed into a gel at body temperature. Sustained drug release occurs in the
tumor owing to the pH sensitive switching activity of the
nanogel. In addition, the in situ thermogelling behavior of
PDMAEMA leads to the long-term retention of 131I-labeled
albumin within the
tumor. In vivo chemo-
radiotherapy is then conducted, achieving excellent therapeutic efficacy due to the sustained drug release and 131I retention for a long time in the
cancer lesions. Our newly developed strategy of using a thermosensitive
polymer for enhancing chemo-
radiotherapy may be considered as a promising platform for combined
cancer therapy without inducing obvious side-effects compared to the traditional chemo or
radiotherapy.