Hepatic cancer is a serious disease with high morbidity and mortality.
Theranostic agents with effective diagnostic and therapeutic capability are highly needed for the treatment of
hepatic cancer. Herein, we aimed to develop a novel mesoporous
polydopamine (
MPDA)-based
theranostic agent for T1/T2 dual magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided
cancer chemo-
photothermal therapy. Superparamagnetic
iron oxide (
SPIO)-loaded
MPDA NPs (
MPDA@
SPIO) was firstly prepared, followed by modifying with a targeted molecule of
sialic acid (SA) and chelating with Fe3+ (SA-
MPDA@
SPIO/Fe3+ NPs). After that,
doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded SA-
MPDA@
SPIO/Fe3+ NPs (SA-
MPDA@
SPIO/DOX/Fe3+) was prepared for
tumor theranostics. The prepared SAPEG-
MPDA@
SPIO/Fe3+ NPs were water-dispersible and biocompatible as evidenced by MTT assay. In vitro photothermal and relaxivity property suggested that the novel
theranostic agent possessed excellent photothermal conversion capability and photostability, with relaxivity of being r1 = 4.29 mM-1s-1 and r2 = 105.53 mM-1s-1, respectively. SAPEG-
MPDA@
SPIO/Fe3+ NPs could effectively encapsulate the DOX, showing dual pH- and thermal-triggered drug release behavior. In vitro and in vivo studies revealed that SA-
MPDA@
SPIO/DOX/Fe3+ NPs could effectively target to the hepatic
tumor tissue, which was possibly due to the specific interaction between SA and the overexpressed
E-selectin. This behavior also endowed SA-
MPDA@
SPIO/DOX/Fe3+ NPs with a more precise T1-T2 dual mode contrast imaging effect than the one without SA modification. In addition, SAPEG-
MPDA@
SPIO/DOX/Fe3+ NPs displayed a superior
therapeutic effect, which was due to its active targeting ability and combined effects of
chemotherapy and
photothermal therapy. These results demonstrated that SAPEG-
MPDA@
SPIO/DOX/Fe3+ NPs is an effective targeted nanoplatform for
tumor theranostics, having potential value in the effective treatment of
hepatic cancer.