Exosomes, as natural nanovesicles, have become a spotlight in the field of
cancer therapy due to their reduced immunogenicity and ability to overcome physiological barriers. However, the
tumor targeting ability of exosomes needs to be improved before its actual application. Herein, a multiple targeted engineered exosomes nanoplatform was constructed through rare earth
element Gd and Dy-doped and TAT
peptide-modified
carbon dots (CDs:Gd,Dy-TAT) encapsulated into
RGD peptide engineered exosomes (Exo-RGD), which were used to enhance the effect of
cancer imaging diagnosis and
photothermal therapy. In vitro and in vivo experiments showed that the resulting CDs:Gd,Dy-TAT@Exo-RGD could effectively accumulate at
cancer site with an increased concentration owing to the targeting
peptides modification and exosomes encapsulation. The
tumor therapy effects of mice treated with CDs:Gd,Dy-TAT@Exo-RGD were heightened compared with mice from the CDs:Gd,Dy control group. After
intravenous injection of CDs:Gd,Dy-TAT@Exo-RGD into
tumor-bearing mice, the temperature of
tumors rose to above 50 °C under NIR irradiation and the localized
hyperpyrexia induced by CDs could remarkably ablate
tumors. The survival rate of the mice was 100% after 60 days. In addition, the CDs:Gd,Dy-TAT@Exo-RGD exhibited higher MRI/CT imaging contrast enhancement of
tumor sites than that of CDs:Gd,Dy. Our study identified that engineered exosomes are a powerful tool for encapsulating multiple agents to enhance
cancer theranostic efficiency and provide insight into precise personalized nanomedicine.