Near-Infrared/pH Dual-Responsive Nanosponges Encapsulating Gold Nanorods for Synergistic Chemo-phototherapy of Lung Cancer
Maryam Deinavizadeh, Ali Reza Kiasat, Nasrin Hooshmand, Hagar I. Labouta, Mohammad Shafiei, Mohammad Sabaeian, Roya Mirzajani, Seyed Mohammadsaleh Zahraei, Pooyan Makvandi, Mostafa A. El‐Sayed
Abstract
High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Combined chemo-photothermal therapy (CT-PTT) based on gold nanorods (AuNRs) loaded with chemotherapies has been recently introduced as a promising anticancer therapy with relatively lower side effects and higher efficacy over individual therapeutic approaches. We fabricated β-cyclodextrin-based nanosponges encapsulating PEGylated gold nanorods and doxorubicin (DOX), AuNR-S-PEG.β-CD NS-DOX, comprehensively characterized it using TEM, SEM, FE-SEM, FITR, and DLS and then evaluated it for CT-PTT versus the respective photothermal, AuNR-S-PEG.β-CD NS, and chemotherapy DOX. The synthesized AuNR-S-PEG.β-CD NS nanocomposite exhibited high photothermal conversion efficiency and high drug loading capacity based on the porous structure of the nanosponges. The drug-loaded nanocomposites, AuNR-S-PEG.β-CD NS-DOX, showed pH/NIR dual-responsive drug release behaviors, good biocompatibility, and efficient uptake into A549 lung cancer cells, as well as higher efficiency in killing cancer cells than single chemo- or photothermal therapy. Overall, the findings of this study demonstrate AuNR-S-PEG.β-CD NS-DOX nanocomposites as a promising candidate for combined chemo-photothermal therapy of lung cancer.