Thermosensitive Polymer Dot Nanocomposites for Trimodal Computed Tomography/Photoacoustic/Fluorescence Imaging-Guided Synergistic Chemo-Photothermal Therapy

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces 2020-11, Vol.12 (46), p.51174-51184
• Main Authors: Men, Xiaoju, Chen, Haobin, Sun, Chen, Liu, Yubin, Wang, Ruibing, Zhang, Xuanjun, Wu, Changfeng, Yuan, Zhen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Biocompatible Materials - chemistry; Biocompatible Materials - pharmacology; Biological and Medical Applications of Materials and Interfaces; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Survival - drug effects; Contrast Media - chemistry; Doxorubicin - chemistry; Doxorubicin - metabolism; Doxorubicin - therapeutic use; Drug Carriers - chemistry; Humans; Hydrogels - chemistry; Infrared Rays; Mice; Mice, Nude; Nanocomposites - chemistry; Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Optical Imaging; Photoacoustic Techniques; Photothermal Therapy; Polymers - chemistry; Thiophenes - chemistry; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c13252

Precision delivery of theranostic agents to the tumor site is essential to improve their diagnostic and therapeutic efficacy and concurrently minimize adverse effects during treatment. In this study, a novel concept of near-infrared (NIR) light activation of conjugated polymer dots (Pdots) at thermosensitive hydrogel nanostructures is introduced for multimodal imaging-guided synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy. Interestingly, owing to the attractive photothermal conversion efficiency of Pdots, the Pdots@hydrogel as theranostic agents is able to undergo a controllable softening or melting state under the irradiation of NIR laser, resulting in light-triggered drug release in a controlled way and concurrently hydrogel degradation. Besides, the novel Pdots@hydrogel nanoplatform can serve as the theranostic agent for enhanced trimodal photoacoustic (PA)/computed tomography (CT)/fluorescence (FL) imaging-guided synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy of tumors. More importantly, the constructed intelligent nanocomposite Pdots@hydrogel exhibits excellent biodegradability, strong NIR absorption, bright PA/CT/FL signals, and superior tumor ablation effect. Therefore, the concept of a light-controlled multifunctional Pdots@hydrogel that integrates multiple diagnostic/therapeutic modalities into one nanoplatform can potentially be applied as a smart nanotheranostic agent to various perspectives of personalized nanomedicine.