Biocompatible Iodine–Starch–Alginate Hydrogel for Tumor Photothermal Therapy

Abstract

Photothermal therapy (PTT) with the advantages of high efficiency and minimal invasiveness is a promising technique for tumor therapy, but clinical application of PTT agents has been stifled by the great safety concerns. Herein, a deep blue iodine−starch−alginate (ALG) hydrogel is elegantly fabricated based on the classic and simple "iodine−starch test" for in vivo tumor PTT in a facile and mild way. The iodine−starch−ALG hydrogel composed of clinically used agents is fabricated by dispersing blue iodine−starch complex into alginate−Ca 2+ hydrogel, which guarantees the good chemical stability of iodine−starch complex via separating them from surrounding reductive environment. The iodine−starch−ALG hydrogel possesses favorable biocompatibility derived from the biosafe and degradable components and possesses good photothermal heating ability based on iodine−starch chromophore. The proposed iodine−starch−ALG hydrogel is successfully applied in tumor PTT in vitro and in vivo for the first time. This work lays down a novel way for the development of high-performance and biocompatible biomaterials via teaching old drugs new tricks.

Review of a new bone tumor therapy strategy based on bifunctional biomaterials

“…The development of new supplementary or alternative tumor treatment methods based on biomaterials can avoid these side effects by selective delivery. [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] Specifically, photothermal therapy is an emerging treatment method that converts near-infrared (NIR) light into localized thermal energy to destroy tumor tissue. [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] Photothermal therapy is based on nanomaterials with strong NIR absorption, such as gold nanoparticles, [36][37][38][39][40][41] carbon nanomaterials, 42,43 magnetic nanoparticles, [44][45][46][47][48] and copper nanomaterials.…”

Van-mediated self-aggregating photothermal agents combined with multifunctional magnetic nickel oxide nanoparticles for precise elimination of bacterial infections

“…Based on Fig. 3 E and F, the NAV photothermal conversion efficiency was calculated to be 30%, which was higher than the values of the reported hollow Bi 2 S 3 microspheres (23.8%) [ 50 ], CuS NPs (16.3%) [ 51 ] and iodine–starch-alginate hydrogel (17.2%) [ 52 ]. Figure 3 G presents the infrared images of temperature changes over irradiation time for different concentrations of NAV monitored by a thermal imaging camera.…”

Locally Injectable Hydrogels for Tumor Immunotherapy

“…Phototherapy includes photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) according to the different mechanisms. Hydrogels for phototherapy have also been developed [ 78 , 79 ]. Single therapy often has limitations, and photoimmunotherapy (PIT) combined with immunotherapy has been proposed.…”