Due to the heterogeneity and the complexity of the tumor microenvironment, combination
therapy, especially the combination of
chemotherapy and
photothermal therapy (PTT), had received increasing attention. However, the co-delivery of small molecule drugs for
chemotherapy and photothermal agents was a key issue. Herein, we prepared a novel thermo-sensitive
hydrogel loading with
elemene (ELE)-loaded and nano
graphene oxide (NGO)-based
liposomes for enhanced combined
therapy. ELE was applied as the model
drug for
chemotherapy because it was a natural
sesquiterpene drug with broad-spectrum and efficient antitumor activity. NGO was applied as
drug carrier and photothermal agent simultaneously due to its two-dimensional structure and high photo-thermal conversion efficacy. NGO was further modified with
glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) to improve its water dispersion, biocompatibility and
tumor-targeting ability. ELE was loaded by GA-modified NGO (GA/NGO) to prepare the
liposomes designated as ELE-GA/NGO-Lip, which was further mixed with
chitosan (CS)
solution and β-
glycerin sodium phosphate (β-GP)
solution to prepare the thermo-sensitive
hydrogel designated as ELE-GA/NGO-Lip-gel. The obtained ELE-GA/NGO-Lip-gel had the gelling temperature of 37°C, temperature and pH-response gel dissolution and high photo-thermal conversion effect. More importantly, ELE-GA/NGO-Lip-gel upon 808 nm
laser irradiation had relative high anti-
tumor efficiency against SMMC-7721 cells in vitro. This research might provide a potent platform for the application of thermos-sensitive
injectable hydrogel in combined
tumor therapy.