A photosensitive sustainable lignin nanoplatform for multimodal image-guided mitochondria-targeted photodynamic and photothermal therapy
Xin-yang Liu, M. Li, Xiao-Zhou Li, Min Ge, S. Liu, Shujun Li, J. Li, Jinsong Ding, Arthur J. Ragauskas, Wenjie Sun, Tony D. James, Z. Chen
Abstract
Photoactivated nanocarriers exhibit significant potential for anticancer therapy, but complex design strategies, unsustainable substrates, and short wavelengths limit their practical application. Here, we designed a new lignin-derived photoactivated nanomaterial that exploits the sensitivity of the β-O-4 bond of lignin to singlet oxygen. This sustainable product was loaded with mitochondria-targeting chlorin e6 and black phosphorus quantum dots (BPQDs) to produce [email protected] NPs, which were used for mitochondria-targeted fluorescence/photoacoustic-guided photothermal and photodynamic therapy. When irradiated at 808 nm, the BPQDs in [email protected] NPs exhibited good photothermal conversion, which allowed photoacoustic imaging and inhibited tumor growth. When irradiated at 660 nm, the [email protected] NPs generated fluorescence and reactive oxygen species, which allowed photoluminescence imaging and further inhibited tumor growth. Cleavage of the β-O-4 bond of lignin by photo-triggered reactive oxygen species degraded the NPs and released the BPQDs, facilitating rapid excretion of the therapeutic nanomaterials. Our rationally designed [email protected] NPs exhibited good therapeutic efficacy, both in vitro and in vivo.