NIR-guided dendritic nanoplatform for improving antitumor efficacy by combining chemo-phototherapy

• Main Authors: Ge R, Cao J, Chi J, Han S, Liang Y, Xu L, Liang M, Sun Y
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2019-07-01
• Series: International Journal of Nanomedicine
• Subjects: Phototherapy; Chemotherapy; Combined therapy; Dendrimer; ICG derivatives
• Online Access: https://www.dovepress.com/nir-guided-dendritic-nanoplatform-for-improving-antitumor-efficacy-by--peer-reviewed-article-IJN

Ruifen Ge1,*, Jie Cao1,*, Jinnan Chi,1 Shangcong Han,1 Yan Liang,1 Lisa Xu,1 Mingtao Liang,2 Yong Sun11Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Qingdao University, Qingdao, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Biomedical Science and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia*These authors contributed equally to this workBackground: Phototherapy, including photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT), is a promising noninvasive strategy in the treatment of cancers due to its highly localized specificity to tumors and minimal side effects to normal tissues. However, single phototherapy often causes tumor recurrence which hinders its clinical applications. Therefore, developing a NIR-guided dendritic nanoplatform for improving the phototherapy effect and reducing the recurrence of tumors by synergistic chemotherapy and phototherapy is essential.Methods: A fluorescent targeting ligand, insisting of ICG derivative cypate and a tumor penetration peptide iRGD (CRGDKGPDC), was covalently combined with PAMAM dendrimer to prepare a single agent-based dendritic theranostic nanoplatform iRGD-cypate-PAMAM-DTX (RCPD).Results: Compared with free cypate, the resulted RCPD could generate enhanced singlet oxygen species while maintaining its fluorescence intensity and heat generation ability when subjected to NIR irradiation. Furthermore, our in vitro and in vivo therapeutic studies demonstrated that compared with phototherapy or chemotherapy alone, the combinatorial chemo-photo treatment of RCPD with the local exposure of NIR light can significantly improve anti-tumor efficiency and reduce the risk of recurrence of tumors.Conclusion: The multifunctional theranostic platform (RCPD) could be used as a promising method for NIR fluorescence image-guided combinatorial treatment of tumor cancers.Keywords: phototherapy, chemotherapy, combined therapy, dendrimer, ICG derivatives