The development of cancer combination therapies, many of which rely on nanoscale theranostic agents, has received increasing attention in recent years. In this work, polyethylene glycol (PEG) modifi ed mesoporous silica (MS) coated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are fabricated and utilized as a multifunctional platform for imaging guided combination therapy of cancer. A model chemotherapy drug, doxorubicin (DOX), could be loaded into the mesoporous structure of the obtained SWNT@MS-PEG nano-carriers with high effi ciency. Upon stimulation under near-infrared (NIR) light, photothermally triggered drug release from DOX loaded SWNT@MS-PEG is observed inside cells, resulting in a synergistic cancer cell killing effect. As revealed by both photoacoustic (PA) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, we further uncover effi cient tumor accumulation of SWNT@MS-PEG/DOX after intravenous injection into mice. In vivo combination therapy using this agent is further demonstrated in a mouse tumor model, achieving a remarkable synergistic anti-tumor effect superior to that obtained by mono-therapy. Our work presents a new type of theranostic nano-platform, which could load therapeutic molecules with high effi ciency, be responsive to external NIR stimulation, and at the same time serve as a diagnostic imaging agent.
Cationic supramolecules composed of multiple oligoethylenimine‐grafted β‐cyclodextrins that are threaded and blocked on a triblock copolymer chain (see figure) are synthesized as gene‐delivery vectors. The supramolecules contain many cationic cyclic units threaded on a polymer chain to form an integrated entity, functioning as a macromolecular gene vector with good DNA binding ability, low cytotoxicity, and high gene‐transfection efficiency.
A series of polyethylene glycol (PEG) functionalized graphene sheet hybrid materials (FGHMs) have been successfully synthesized via ester linkages. Interestingly, our products can be dispersed in both polar/protic solvents and nonpolar/nonprotic ones, which differ significantly from previously reported systems and are of great value in the wide-spread application of these "carbon nanosheet" based materials by solution-phase processing. Furthermore, the addition of PEG-modified carbon nanosheets as nanofillers significantly improves the thermal stability of the bulk polymers. In our case, an increase of 35 K in thermal stability can be obtained for PEG4000 after filling with as low as 1 wt % of the PEG modified carbon sheets, suggesting their great potential as novel nanofillers in industry.
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