Complete eradication of highly aggressive triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) remains a notable challenge today. In this work, an imaging-guided photothermal-chemotherapy strategy for TNBC is developed for the first time based on a periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO) coated Prussian blue (PB@PMO) nanoplatform. The PB@PMOs have organic-inorganic hybrid frameworks, uniform diameter (125 nm), high surface area (866 m2 g-1), large pore size (3.2 nm), excellent photothermal conversion capability, high drug loading capacity (260 µg mg-1), and magnetic resonance (MR) and photoacoustic (PA) imaging abilities. The MR and PA properties of the PB@PMOs are helpful for imaging the tumor and showing the accumulation of the nanoplatform in the tumor region. The bioluminescence intensity and tumor volume of the MDA-MB-231-Luc tumor-bearing mouse model demonstrate that TNBC can be effectively inhibited by the combined photothermal-chemotherapy than monotherapy strategy. Histopathological analysis further reveals that the combination therapy results in most extensive apoptotic and necrotic cells in the tumor without inducing obvious side effect to major organs.
Keywords: Prussian blue; imaging‐guided therapy; nanoplatform; periodic mesoporous organosilica; triple negative breast cancer.