Abstract
Gold nanorods (GNRs) are of great interest in cancer therapy given their ability to ablate tumor cells using deep tissue-penetrating near-infrared light. GNRs coated with tumor-specific moieties have the potential to target tumor tissue to minimize damage to normal tissue. However, perfect targeting is difficult to achieve given that nanoparticles could be broadly dispersed inside the body. Moreover, interaction between targeting groups and biological molecules could lower targeting abilities, resulting in off-target accumulation which might produce nanotoxicity. Here we introduce GNR-encapsulated microcubes (GNR@MCs) that can be utilized as implantable photothermal agents. GNR@MCs are created by encapsulating GNRs in polymeric networks via stop flow lithography (SFL), a one-phase synthesis technique which allows for creation of surfactant-free, uniform particles, and injection of GNR@MCs into the body after a simple rinse step. GNRs are highly packed and firmly encapsulated inside MCs, and entrapped GNRs exhibit optical properties comparable to that of unbound GNRs and photothermal efficiency (58%) in line with that of nano-sized agents (51–95%). Photothermal ablation in murine models is achieved using GNR@MCs stably implanted into the tumor tissue, which suggests that GNR@MCs can be a safe and effective platform for cancer therapy.
Highlights
To make nanoparticles produce heat triggered by NIR light emission, the LSPR of particles has been adjusted by changing the morphology and compositions of nanoparticles and the chemical environment of their surroundings[2,3,4,5]
We introduce Gold nanorods (GNRs)-encapsulated microcubes (GNR@MCs) in which GNRs are highly packed into the polymeric networks via stop flow lithography (SFL)
(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was selected as the polymer network for the fabrication of GNR@MCs due to these properties: (1) minimal toxic effects in biological systems, (2) optically transparent for NIR light, and (3) heat produced by LSPR can be transferred through water-like medium
Summary
To make nanoparticles produce heat triggered by NIR light emission, the LSPR of particles has been adjusted by changing the morphology (i.e., size and shape) and compositions of nanoparticles and the chemical environment (i.e., pH) of their surroundings[2,3,4,5]. GNR(or other nanoparticles)-embedded hydrogel microparticles show proper aspects— their water-like environment allows near-infrared light to penetrate through the particle volume, the polymer networks can firmly encapsulate nanomaterials, and the networks can be made up of biocompatible polymer (such as poly(ethylene glycol); PEG). A sufficient number of GNRs trapped inside the porous networks absorb NIR light and generate heat that can be transferred through the microcubic particle, confirmed by the relatively high photothermal transduction efficiency (~58%) of GNR@MCs. Microcubic particles with uniform size (~50 μm) can be implanted into specific tissue sites and generate photothermal heating effects comparable to that of unbound nanorods
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