Photoresponsive silver nanowire nanoplatform for real-time drug delivery in non-small cell lung cancer therapy

Abstract

In this study, we first successfully synthesized three different sizes and shapes of Ag nanowires (Ag NWs) using a polyol synthesis method. The size and morphology of the Ag NWs were controlled by the types of inorganic control agents in the reaction system (NaCl for 1, CuCl2 for 2, and FeCl3 for 3). The synthesized Ag NWs were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) experiments. Subsequently, due to the favorable width of 1, we utilized it as an effective photosensitizer to construct a novel drug-loaded nanomaterial platform, namely 1-PLC@DOX (PLC stands for poly(ε-caprolactone), and DOX stands for Doxorubicin), to achieve on-demand drug release triggered by near-infrared (NIR) laser. The results indicate that the drug delivery system can achieve minimally invasive treatment of complex geometric defects. Under near-infrared irradiation, 1-PLC@DOX can heat up to 53.6 °C within 15 min, showing a unique heating platform on the heating curve, with ideal photothermal stability and heating effect compared to other groups. By toggling near-infrared irradiation on or off, 1-PLC@DOX can exhibit a stair-step drug release curve, suggesting that on-demand control of drug release using near-infrared laser as a trigger is feasible. In vitro biological evaluations demonstrate that 1-PLC@DOX exhibits good biocompatibility and anti-tumor ability, significantly reducing the invasive ability of A549 cells on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells, and at the same time inhibiting the proliferation of cancer cells by regulating the p53 signaling pathway to cause apoptosis.