Water‐Responsive Hybrid Nanoparticles Codelivering ICG and DOX Effectively Treat Breast Cancer via Hyperthermia‐aided DOX Functionality and Drug Penetration

Abstract

Tumor growth and metastasis are the major causes of high mortality in breast cancer. In this study, a water‐responsive phospholipid‐calcium‐carbonate hybrid nanoparticle (PL/ACC‐DOX&ICG) surface modified with a phospholipid shell is designed and covered with a shielding polymer polyethylene glycol; this development is loaded with the photosensitizer indocyanine green (ICG) and the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin (DOX) for near‐infrared (NIR) imaging and chemophotothermal combination therapy against breast cancer. PL/ACC‐DOX&ICG exhibits satisfactory stability against various aqueous environments with minimal drug leakage and can readily decompose to facilitate quick drug release into cancer cells. In vivo biodistribution studies, PL/ACC‐DOX&ICG demonstrated strong tumor‐homing properties. Interestingly, the in vitro cellular uptake and intratumoral penetration depth of PL/ACC‐DOX&ICG are significantly enhanced under NIR laser irradiation, owing to ICG‐induced hyperthermia, which not only enhances cell permeability and fluidity but also disrupts the dense tumor extracellular matrix. Compared to chemotherapy or photothermal therapy alone, chemophotothermal combination therapy synergistically induces apoptosis and death in 4T1 cells. Moreover, compared with the phosphate buffer saline group, the combined treatment suppress primary tumor growth at a rate of approximately 94.88% and decrease the number of metastatic nodules by about 93.6%. Therefore, PL/ACC‐DOX&ICG may be a promising nanoplatform for breast cancer treatment.

Facile preparation of cancer cell membrane vehicle loaded with indocyanine green for effective photothermal therapy of cancer

“…The in vivo anticancer study was performed according to a previous report [24]. In brief, 2 × 10 6 A549 cells were injected to the flank of mice (4–5 weeks, 20 g).…”

Novel CD44-Targeting and pH/redox Dual-Stimuli Responsive Core-Shell Nanoparticles Loading Triptolide to Combat Breast Cancer Growth and Lung Metastasis

“…Cell migration and invasion assays in MDA-MB-231 cells were performed using a 24-well Transwell chamber as described previously [36]. The upper and lower sides of the Transwell membrane (8 µm pores) were pre-coated with 0.1% collagen in the cell migration assay.…”

Indocyanine Green Nanoparticles: Are They Compelling for Cancer Treatment?

“…Recently, the development of multifunctional ICG-NPs, offering both diagnostic and therapeutic solutions in cancer, has captured the attention of researchers (Han et al, 2018 ). To overcome the limitations previously discussed, several ICG-NPs have been proposed and tested, both in vitro and in vivo (Liu et al, 2019b ; ZhuGe et al, 2019 ), displaying increased circulation time and improved ICG optical properties and achieving tumor-specific accumulation. Many advantages derive from their use: combining or encapsulating it to/into NPs results in the extension of ICG half-life.…”

“…Doxorubicin has been exploited in superparamagnetic iron oxide NPs with ICG displaying good imaging ability, showing accumulation in the tumor site and high antitumor efficacy with few side effects in glioma-bearing rats (Shen et al, 2018 ). Phospholipid-calcium-carbonate NPs loaded with doxorubicin and ICG demonstrate strong tumor-homing properties and a synergistic effect in terms of tumor growth reduction (Liu et al, 2019b ). Regarding cancer immunotherapy, the photothermal ablation of tumors with immune-adjuvant ICG-NPs, seems promising in activating immune responses potentially applicable for metastasis treatment (Chen et al, 2016 ).…”