A Dual-Targeted Organic Photothermal Agent for Enhanced Photothermal Therapy

Abstract

The development of highly effective anticancer drugs that cause minimal damage to the surrounding normal tissues is a challenging topic in cancer therapy. Herein, we demonstrate a dual-targeted organic molecule that functions as a photothermal agent by actively targeting tumor tissue and mitochondria to selectively kill cancer cells. The synthesized photothermal agent exhibited high photothermal conversion efficiency, low cytotoxicity, and good biological compatibility. In vivo experiments showed an excellent tumor inhibitory effect of the dual-targeted photothermal agent.

Keywords: antitumor agents; cancer treatment; drug delivery; organic photothermal agents; photothermal therapy.