Nanogold-loaded chitosan nanocomposites for pH/light-responsive drug release and synergistic chemo-photothermal cancer therapy

Abstract

Stable and biocompatible nano-agents that stimulate the combined cancer therapy are of great necessity. Herein, a ternary system composed of optimally prepared chitosan nanoparticles (ChNPs) efficiently encapsulating 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) and loaded by gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was employed for synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy. The composed 5-FU-ChNPs@Au nanocomposites (NCs) combine the features of ChNPs, 5-FU, and AuNPs and exhibit excellent biocompatibility, stability, and killing efficiency of tumor cells. Moreover, its strong absorbance in the visible region promotes the fast release of drug under laser exposure. The synergistic effect of 5-FU-ChNPs@Au was demonstrated in comparison to a variant system (5-FU-ChNPs) which was prepared devoid of AuNPs. The dynamic light scattering of the synthesized NCs verified the high stability and homogeneity of particle size distribution. Cytotoxicity experiments towards hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2) revealed that the combined chemo-photothermal therapy of 5-FU-ChNPs@Au featured highly synergistic manner. These findings offer the 5-FU-ChNPs@Au NCs as a highly potential chemo-photothermal therapeutic platform.