NIR-light-responsive chemo-photothermal hydrogel system with controlled DOX release and photothermal effect for cancer therapy

Abstract

Here a multiplex near-infrared (NIR) light-responsive hydrogel platform (SA/DOX@hydrogel) has been constructed for controlled synergetic chemotherapy and photothermal cancer therapy. Ag nanoparticles doped SnS2 nanoflowers (SA), which can convert NIR light into thermal energy with efficiency of 30.0%, were embedded in low-melting-temperature agarose hydrogel as a photothermal agent. Moreover, anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) is loaded into the hydrogel for tumor treatment. The heat generated from NIR irradiation of SA promotes melting of hydrogel, thus the incorporated DOX can be released into the surrounding environment. By adjusting the irradiation power and time, the drug will be released with a control. In vitro study shows that the SA/DOX@hydrogel system is highly effective to kill cancer cells (∼ 93%) at a relatively low -laser irradiation (1.2 w cm−2, 10 min) treatment. In the mice tumor model, SA/DOX@hydrogel with laser irradiation is capable to suppress or even eliminate the tumor completely from the mice within two weeks. The excellent anti-cancer efficiency benefits from the combined results of photothermal effect from NIR-irradiated SA and chemotherapy from DOX controlled release by heat. Therefore, this chemo-photothermal therapeutic system exhibits a great potential for cancer treatment.