One-Step Preparation of a Water-Soluble Carbon Nanohorn/Phthalocyanine Hybrid for Dual-Modality Photothermal and Photodynamic Therapy

Abstract

The biomedical applications of carbon nanomaterials, especially integrating noninvasive photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT), into a single system have enormous potential in cancer therapy. Herein, we present a novel and facile one-step method for the preparation of water-soluble single-walled carbon nanohorns (SWNHs) and metal phthalocyanines (MPc) hybrid for PTT and PDT. The hydrophilic MPc, tetrasulfonic acid tetrasodium salt copper phthalocyanine (TSCuPc), is coated on the surface of SWNHs via noncovalent π-π interaction using the sonication method. In this PTT/PDT nanosystem, SWNHs acts as a photosensitizer carrier and PTT agent, while TSCuPc acts as a hydrophilic and PDT agent. The EPR results demonstrated that the generated reactive oxygen species (ROS) not only from the photoinduced electron transfer process from TSCuPc to SWNHs but also from SWNHs without exciting TSCuPc to its excited state. The test of photothermal conversion proved that not only do SWNHs contribute to the photothermal therapy (PTT) effect, TSCuPc probably also contributes to that when it coats on the surface of SWNHs upon exposure to a 650-nm laser. More importantly, the results of in vitro cell viability revealed a significantly enhanced anticancer efficacy of combined noninvasive PTT/PDT, indicating that the SWNHs-TSCuPc nanohybrid is a hopeful candidate material for developing an efficient and biocompatible nanoplatform for biomedical application.

Near‐Infrared Light Responsive Imaging‐Guided Photothermal and Photodynamic Synergistic Therapy Nanoplatform Based on Carbon Nanohorns for Efficient Cancer Treatment

“…Subsequently, TEM measurements were performed to identify the morphological features of the SWNH‐ICG nanohybrids. As in previous studies, closed spherical aggregations with diameter about 80 nm were clearly observed in the pristine SWNHs in this work (Figure c). However, the morphology of the SWNHs was highly retained in the SWNH‐ICG nanohybrids (Figure d).…”

“…Thus, the Raman I G / I D ratios for pristine SWNHs and SWNH‐ICGs cannot be used to directly prove the surface interactions between SWNHs and ICG. Considering that the red‐shift absorption and the Raman I G / I D ratio (Figure a, b) are similar to those in previous studies, it is inferred that SWNH‐ICGs interact with each other in a noncovalent manner, without altering the sp 2 network of the SWNHs.…”

“…The amount of ICG attached on the surface of the SWNHs was also estimated by TGA (Figure S7). The curve for pristine SWNHs featured a weight loss of approximately 7.5 %, which could be ascribed to the elimination of the residual amorphous carbon . ICG showed a first loss occurring before 126 °C, attributable to the elimination of absorbed water.…”

The interactions of single-wall carbon nanohorns with polar epithelium

“…They are novel nanostructure carbon materials generating much enthusiasm in biomedical applications, such as drug delivery, photo-hyperthermia (due to their intrinsic therapeutic effects), and magnetic resonance analysis, due to their several advantages over other carbon materials such as single-walled carbon nanotubes. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Besides their high purity, uniform size, and absence of metal catalysts, they have an extremely large specific surface area. 8 Furthermore, their surface area can be enlarged, holes can be opened, and oxygen functional groups can be introduced by oxidation at their …”

In Situ Biosynthesis of Fluorescent Platinum Nanoclusters: Toward Self-Bioimaging-Guided Cancer Theranostics

“…Photothermal therapy (PTT), as a potential therapeutic strategy in tumor treatments, has been well known from last few decades [18][19] . Porphyrins and derivatives are good candidates as photosensitizers (PSs) for use in photodynamic therapy (PDT) or PTT treatment [20][21][22] .…”