High Performance Gold Nanorods@DNA Self-Assembled Drug-Loading System for Cancer Thermo-Chemotherapy in the Second Near-Infrared Optical Window

Abstract

In terms of synergistic cancer therapy, biological nanomaterials with a second near-infrared (NIR-II) window response can greatly increase photothermal effects and photoacoustic imaging performance. Herein, we report a novel stimuli-responsive multifunctional drug-loading system which was constructed by integrating miniature gold nanorods (GNR) as the NIR-II photothermal nanorods and cyclic ternary aptamer (CTA) composition as a carrier for chemotherapy drugs. In this system, doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX, a chemotherapy drug) binds to the G-C base pairs of the CTA, which exhibited a controlled release behavior based on the instability of G-C base pairs in the slightly acidic tumor microenvironment. Upon the 1064 nm (NIR-II biowindow) laser irradiation, the strong photothermal and promoted cargo release properties endow gold nanorods@CTA (GNR@CTA) nanoparticles displaying excellent synergistic anti-cancer effect. Moreover, the GNR@CTA of NIR also possesses thermal imaging and photoacoustic (PA) imaging properties due to the strong NIR region absorbance. This work enables to obtaining a stimuli-responsive “all-in-one” nanocarrier, which are promising candidate for bimodal imaging diagnosis and chemo-photothermal synergistic therapy.

Development status of novel spectral imaging techniques and application to traditional Chinese medicine

“…Infrared thermal imaging has also been used to analyze skin tissues and identify tissues whose imaging is uneven to diagnose gynoid lipodystrophy [ 68 ]. This technology has also promoted the development of drug carrier materials with thermal imaging properties [ 69 ]. With this updated technology, digital infrared thermography, dynamic infrared thermography, and other derivative technologies were emerged during the development of infrared thermal imaging [ 66 , 70 ].…”

Antibacterial Properties of Gold Nanoparticles in the Modification of Medical Implants: A Systematic Review

“…In the 27 included articles, we found that studies that presented thermal or photocatalytic effects by using NIR on AuNPs. Most AuNP therapeutic applications are based on their ability to generate tunable heat upon exposure to NIR radiation, which is helpful in both NIR-responsive cargo delivery and photothermal/photodynamic therapies [70,71]. AuNPs exhibited remarkable absorption in the NIR region.…”