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Photothermo-responsive Cu7S4@polymer nanocarriers with small sizes and high efficiency for controlled chemo/photothermo therapy

光热响应的Cu7S4@pNIPAm纳米载体应用于可控的药物/光热治疗

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Abstract

Drug delivery systems (DDSs) have been getting more and more attention in the field of cancer therapy with the development of nanotechnology. But remote and noninvasive controlled drug release for improving treatment efficacy and reducing side effects faces great challenge. We report a kind of “smart” nanocomposites (NCs) that is sensitive to the surrounding temperature by grafting a layer of thermosensitive polymer, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAm), on the surface of single Cu7S4 nanoparticle (NP) via atomtransfer radical polymerization (ATRP). These NCs demonstrate a photothermal conversion efficiency of 25.4% under 808-nmnear infrared (NIR) light irradiation and a drug loading content of 19.4% (drug/total NCs, w/w) with a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of ~38°C. At normal physiological temperature (37°C), only 10.8% of the loaded doxorubicin (DOX) was released at physiological pH value (pH 7.4) within 10 h. In the presence of 808-nm irradiation, due to the temperature increment as a result of photothermal effects, DOX was rapidly released.

摘要

抗癌药物的靶向安全输送及远程无损控制释放是提高肿瘤治疗效率并降低毒副作用的前提, 但挑战巨大. 本文通过原子转移自由基 聚合技术在单颗粒Cu7S4光热纳米粒子表面嫁接一层温敏高分子, 从而设计了一种近红外光热控制智能纳米药物胶囊. 该载药纳米胶囊具 有较高的抗癌药物(阿霉素)负载能力(19.4%)和良好的光热转换效率(25.4%), 并具有合适的药物释放温度(~38°C). 在正常生理条件下(37°C, pH 7.4), 10 h后仅有10.8%的阿霉素释放, 但在808-nm近红外光的照射下, Cu7S4将光能转换成热, 诱导温敏高分子快速收缩, 从而导致所负载 的阿霉素被挤出而释放, 达到远程光控药物释放的目的. 与此同时, Cu7S4的光热效应还可用于肿瘤的热疗, 该复合纳米胶囊对癌症的化疗 与热疗协同疗法将显著提高癌症治疗效果.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing Key Laboratory of Environmentally Harmful Chemical Analysis, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China

    Yuanbao Li, Xilin Bai, Minmin Xu, Suying Xu, Gaofei Hu & Leyu Wang

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  1. Yuanbao Li
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  2. Xilin Bai
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  3. Minmin Xu
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  4. Suying Xu
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  5. Gaofei Hu
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  6. Leyu Wang
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Correspondence to Leyu Wang.

Additional information

Yuanbao Li is currently a third-year Master candidate in chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Leyu Wang at Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT) since 2013. His research interest is focused on drug delivery and photothermal therapy with multifunctional nanocarriers.

Leyu Wang is a professor of chemistry at BUCT. He received his PhD in chemistry from Tsinghua University with Prof. Yadong Li in 2007. Then he joined Prof. Huang’s group at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) as a postdoctoral researcher from 2007 to 2009. He moved to BUCT’s Department of Chemistry in October 2009. His research interests span from the controlled synthesis of upconversion luminescence nanoparticles (UCNPs), localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) near-infrared (NIR) semiconductor nanoparticles, magnetic nanomaterials, metal-semiconductor heteronanostructures, and molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) nanomaterials to the applications including electrocatalysis, artificial photosynthesis, biochemical sensing, multimodal imaging, drug/gene delivery and photothermo/chemo therapy.

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Li, Y., Bai, X., Xu, M. et al. Photothermo-responsive Cu7S4@polymer nanocarriers with small sizes and high efficiency for controlled chemo/photothermo therapy. Sci. China Mater. 59, 254–264 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-016-5035-6

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