Fabrication of nanodiamonds modified with hyaluronic acid and chlorin e6 for selective photothermal and photodynamic tumor therapy

Abstract

Nanodiamond (ND)‐based nanoparticles with hyaluronic acid (HA) and chlorin e6 (Ce6) were fabricated for potential photodynamic and photothermal tumor therapy. The ND nanoparticles conjugated with HA and Ce6 (Ce6‐ND@HA) had a suitable size range about 130 nm and high zeta‐potential about −35 mV. The conjugation was confirmed by UV‐vis spectroscopy and the conjugation efficiency of Ce6 in these ND nanoparticles was quantified by fluorescence emission spectrum. HeLa and NIH/3T3 cell lines were used as model cells in order to evaluate the performance of ND, ND nanoparticles with HA (ND@HA), and Ce6‐ND@HA. The ND@HA and Ce6‐ND@HA nanoparticles had a selective uptake for HeLa cells due to the presence of HA. In addition, Ce6‐ND@HA nanoparticles had a high cell ablation effect for HeLa cells due to the temperature increase caused by ND and singlet oxygen generation caused by Ce6. These results suggest that Ce6‐ND@HA particles might have potential for targeted anti‐tumor treatment.