Synthesis of Methotrexate-Loaded Dumbbell-Shaped Titanium Dioxide/Gold Nanorods Coated with Mesoporous Silica and Decorated with Upconversion Nanoparticles for Near-Infrared-Driven Trimodal Cancer Treatment

Pranjyan Dash; Senthilkumar Thirumurugan; Ching-Li Tseng; Yu-Chien Lin; Sung-Lung Chen; Udesh Dhawan; Ren-Jei Chung

doi:10.1021/acsami.3c04300

Synthesis of Methotrexate-Loaded Dumbbell-Shaped Titanium Dioxide/Gold Nanorods Coated with Mesoporous Silica and Decorated with Upconversion Nanoparticles for Near-Infrared-Driven Trimodal Cancer Treatment

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2023 Jul 19;15(28):33335-33347. doi: 10.1021/acsami.3c04300. Epub 2023 Jul 5.

Authors

Pranjyan Dash¹, Senthilkumar Thirumurugan¹, Ching-Li Tseng^{2

3

4

5}, Yu-Chien Lin¹, Sung-Lung Chen¹, Udesh Dhawan⁶, Ren-Jei Chung^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, National Taipei University of Technology (Taipei Tech), Taipei 10608, Taiwan.
² Graduate Institute of Biomedical Materials and Tissue Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
³ International Ph.D. Program in Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
⁴ Research Center of Biomedical Device, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
⁵ International Ph.D. Program in Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
⁶ Centre for the Cellular Microenvironment, Division of Biomedical Engineering, James Watt School of Engineering, Mazumdar-Shaw Advanced Research Centre, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G116EW, U.K.
⁷ High-value Biomaterials Research and Commercialization Center, National Taipei University of Technology (Taipei Tech), Taipei 10608, Taiwan.

PMID: 37403930
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c04300

Abstract

This study prepared dumbbell-shaped titanium dioxide (TiO₂)/gold nanorods (AuNRs) coated with mesoporous silica shells (mS) (AuNRs-TiO₂@mS). Methotrexate (MTX) was further loaded into the AuNRs-TiO₂@mS, and then upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) were decorated to form AuNRs-TiO₂@mS-MTX: UCNP nanocomposites. TiO₂ is used as an intense photosensitizer (PS) to produce cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to photodynamic therapy (PDT). Concurrently, AuNRs exhibited intense photothermal therapy (PTT) effects and photothermal conversion efficiency. In vitro results suggested that these nanocomposites can kill oral cancer cells (HSC-3) without toxicity through irradiation of NIR laser, owing to the synergistic effect. The in vivo studies indicated that these nanocomposites exhibited excellent antitumor effects through synergistic PDT/PTT/chemotherapy under a near-infrared (NIR) 808 nm laser irradiation. Thus, these AuNRs-TiO₂@mS: UCNP nanocomposites have great potential to undergo deep tissue penetration with enhanced synergistic effects through NIR-triggered light for cancer treatment.

Keywords: chemotherapy; gold nanorods; photodynamic therapy; photothermal therapy; titanium dioxide; upconversion nanoparticles.

MeSH terms

Gold / pharmacology
Methotrexate / pharmacology
Nanoparticles*
Nanotubes* / radiation effects
Neoplasms* / drug therapy
Photochemotherapy* / methods
Photosensitizing Agents / pharmacology
Photosensitizing Agents / therapeutic use
Silicon Dioxide

Substances

titanium dioxide
Methotrexate
Silicon Dioxide
Gold
Photosensitizing Agents