PEGylated Polydopamine Nanoparticles Incorporated with Indocyanine Green and Doxorubicin for Magnetically Guided Multimodal Cancer Therapy Triggered by Near-Infrared Light

Abstract

Highly efficient cancer therapeutics have been extensively sought after using versatile multifunctional nanoagents, for which it is desirable to be biocompatible and to produce synergistic effects for multimodal treatments. Herein, we propose a facile strategy to synthesize a magnetic nanosystem comprising a core of Fe3O4, a PEGylated shell of polydopamine, and loaded with indocyanine green and doxorubicin. This system may enable combination of photothermal therapy (PTT), photodynamic therapy (PDT), and chemotherapy under magnetic guidance. The obtained nanocomposites exhibited strong superparamagnetism, facilitating cell internalization of drugs under a localized magnetic field. As a tumor-specific environmental cue, the acidic condition was able to trigger a burst mode of drug release from the nanocarrier. Experimental studies in vitro based on HeLa cells demonstrated notable effects on cell viability, apoptosis, and uptake efficiency of drugs under the combination of PDT/PTT and chemotherapy. This nano...