Near-infrared absorbing mesoporous carbon nanoparticle as an intelligent drug carrier for dual-triggered synergistic cancer therapy

Mesoporous carbon biomaterials

“…Thus, NIR irradiation played two roles: it was the source for photothermal conversion to ablate the cancer cells and the trigger for DOX release from MCNs. NIR-based photothermal therapy and DOX-based chemotherapy substantially enhanced the therapeutic efficiency, as demonstrated by the in vitro CCK-8 assay [52]. The combination of carbon and silica components could produce mesoporous composite materials with high photothermal conversion efficiency and controlled drug-releasing performance.…”

“…To further control DOX release, HA was included as a gatekeeper to seal DOX within the mesopores of MCNs with a redox-responsive disulfide bond [52]. Upon the addition of enzyme Hyal-1, HA was degraded into low-molecular-weight fragments, triggering DOX release.…”

“…Similar to carbon nanotubes and graphene [68][69][70][71][72], MCNs show strong optical absorption in the NIR region (e.g., 808 nm), indicating potential utility as the photothermal agent for photothermal ablation of cancer cells because NIR light penetrates deeply into tissues and is harmless to normal tissues [52,53]. Xu et al [53] recently demonstrated that FA-targeted MCNs showed superior photothermal-conversion efficiency compared to graphene oxide and showed that NIR irradiation accelerated the release of pre-loaded anticancer drugs from MCNs.…”

“…Xu et al [53] recently demonstrated that FA-targeted MCNs showed superior photothermal-conversion efficiency compared to graphene oxide and showed that NIR irradiation accelerated the release of pre-loaded anticancer drugs from MCNs. In addition, HA-targeted MCNs (MCNs-HA) were designed for targeted photothermal ablation of tumor and synergistic on-demand drug release [52]. MCNs-HA targeted to CD44 overexpressed cell membranes and entered the cancer cells, and then DOX release was triggered and accelerated by NIR irradiation.…”

“Combo” nanomedicine: Co-delivery of multi-modal therapeutics for efficient, targeted, and safe cancer therapy

“…However, traditional hyperthermia is usually invasive, non-uniform, and the desired therapeutic efficacy without non-specific cell damage requires sophisticated temperature control [196]. Various nanomaterials with a highabsorption cross-section for converting an external energy source (e.g., magnetic field, light, and ultrasound) into heat have been developed for minimally invasive and uniform hyperthermia [197][198][199][200][201][202][203]. Particularly, gold and carbon nanomaterials whose hyperthermal effects are triggered upon irradiation by noninvasive, deep-penetrating nearinfrared light (NIR) have been widely explored as efficient agents for photothermal therapy [34][35][36]204].…”