Combinational administration of photothermal therapy (PTT) and chemotherapy (CT) shows great potential in improving the efficiency of tumor treatment. Herein, we designed a novel nanocomposite Pt@Bi2Te3 composed of bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) nanoparticles and platinum(IV) prodrugs (Pt) for PTT-CT combination therapy. The obtained Bi2Te3 was synthesized by a simple solvothermal method and modified by polyethylene glycol, which exhibited excellent photothermal (PT) efficiency and stability and could also serve as a bimodal bioimaging contrast agent in PT and photoacoustic (PA) imaging. In vitro experiment results showed that the nanocomposite Pt@Bi2Te3 could effectively increase the uptake of platinum in cancer cells, which could kill tumor cells through the combined effect of PTT and CT. Furthermore, combination therapy of cancer in vivo was achieved with obvious tumor-growth inhibition without inducing observed side effects. We revealed the great potential of Bi2Te3 nanocomposites in increasing therapeutic efficiency by PTT-CT therapy and PA-PT imaging.
Keywords: bismuth telluride nanoparticles; combined therapy; dual-mode imaging; platinum(IV) prodrug.