Tumor-triggered drug release from calcium carbonate-encapsulated gold nanostars for near-infrared photodynamic/photothermal combination antitumor therapy.

Abstract

Different stimulus including pH, light and temperature have been used for controlled drug release to prevent drug inactivation and minimize side-effects. Herein a novel nano-platform (GNS@CaCO3/ICG) consisting of calcium carbonate-encapsulated gold nanostars loaded with ICG was established to couple the photothermal properties of gold nanostars (GNSs) and the photodynamic properties of indocyanine green (ICG) in the photodynamic/photothermal combination therapy (PDT/PTT). In this study, the calcium carbonate worked not only a drug keeper to entrap ICG on the surface of GNSs in the form of a stable aggregate which was protected from blood clearance, but also as the a pH-responder to achieve highly effective tumor-triggered drug release locally. The application of GNS@CaCO3/ICG for in vitro and in vivo therapy achieved the combined antitumor effects upon the NIR irradiation, which was superior to the single PDT or PTT. Meanwhile, the distinct pH-triggered drug release performance of GNS@CaCO3/ICG implemented the tumor-targeted NIR fluorescence imaging. In addition, we monitored the bio-distribution and excretion pathway of GNS@CaCO3/ICG based on the NIR fluorescence from ICG and two-photon fluorescence and photoacoustic signal from GNSs, and the results proved that GNS@CaCO3/ICG had a great ability for tumor-specific and tumor-triggered drug release. We therefore conclude that the GNS@CaCO3/ICG holds great promise for clinical applications in anti-tumor therapy with tumor imaging or drug tracing.

• Authors: Yanlei Liu, Xiao Zhi, Meng Yang, Jingpu Zhang, Lingnan Lin, Xin Zhao, Wenxiu Hou, Chunlei Zhang, Qian Zhang, Fei Pan, Gabriel Alfranca, Yuming Yang, Jesús M de la Fuente, Jian Ni, Daxiang Cui
• Journal: Theranostics (Theranostics) Vol. 7 Issue 6 Pg. 1650-1662 ( 2017) ISSN: 1838-7640 [Electronic] Australia
• PMID: 28529642 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Drug Carriers
• Photosensitizing Agents
• Gold
• Calcium Carbonate
• Indocyanine Green

Topics

• Animals
• Calcium Carbonate (administration & dosage, metabolism)
• Cell Line, Tumor
• Disease Models, Animal
• Drug Carriers (administration & dosage, metabolism)
• Drug Liberation
• Gold (administration & dosage, metabolism)
• Heterografts
• Humans
• Hyperthermia, Induced (methods)
• Indocyanine Green (administration & dosage, metabolism, pharmacokinetics)
• Mice, Inbred BALB C
• Nanoparticles (administration & dosage, metabolism)
• Photochemotherapy (methods)
• Photosensitizing Agents (administration & dosage, metabolism, pharmacokinetics)
• Stomach Neoplasms (drug therapy)
• Treatment Outcome