pH/redox dual-stimuli-responsive cross-linked polyphosphazene nanoparticles for multimodal imaging-guided chemo-photodynamic therapy

Nanoscale. 2019 May 16;11(19):9457-9467. doi: 10.1039/c9nr01194c.

Abstract

Multifunctional nanodrugs with the integration of precise diagnostic and effective therapeutic functions have shown great promise in improving the efficacy of cancer therapy. We report herein a simple and effective approach to directly assemble an anticancer drug (curcumin), a photodynamic agent (Ce6) and tumor environment-sensitive molecules into cross-linked polyphosphazene and coat on superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoclusters to form discrete nanoparticles (termed as FHCPCe NPs). FHCPCe NPs have high physiological stability and good biocompatibility, and can enhance accumulation in tumor tissue via the enhanced permeability and retention effect. Meanwhile, the FHCPCe NPs exhibit an effective performance of dual-modality magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) due to the Fe3O4 cores and fluorescence imaging (FL) in the xenografted HeLa tumor because of the fluorescence of Ce6. Importantly, under the conditions of supernormal glutathione levels and acidic microenvironment in tumor tissue, curcumin and Ce6 can be effectively released by the degradation of FHCPCe NPs. Therefore, excellent anti-tumor effects both in vitro and in vivo have been achieved by synergistic chemotherapy/photodynamic therapy (CT/PDT) using multifunctional NPs. Our study highlights the promise of developing multifunctional nanomaterials for accurate multimodal imaging-guided highly sensitive therapy of cancer.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Chlorophyllides
  • Curcumin / chemistry
  • Curcumin / metabolism
  • Curcumin / therapeutic use
  • Drug Carriers / chemistry
  • Ferrosoferric Oxide / chemistry
  • HeLa Cells
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Nanoparticles / chemistry*
  • Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Neoplasms / pathology
  • Organophosphorus Compounds / chemistry*
  • Oxidation-Reduction
  • Photochemotherapy
  • Photosensitizing Agents / chemistry
  • Photosensitizing Agents / metabolism
  • Photosensitizing Agents / therapeutic use
  • Polymers / chemistry*
  • Porphyrins / chemistry
  • Porphyrins / metabolism
  • Porphyrins / therapeutic use
  • Reactive Oxygen Species / metabolism
  • Transplantation, Heterologous
  • Whole Body Imaging

Substances

  • Chlorophyllides
  • Drug Carriers
  • Organophosphorus Compounds
  • Photosensitizing Agents
  • Polymers
  • Porphyrins
  • Reactive Oxygen Species
  • poly(phosphazene)
  • phytochlorin
  • Curcumin
  • Ferrosoferric Oxide