Theranostic niosomes for direct intratumoral injection: marked enhancement in tumor retention and anticancer efficacy.

Abstract

For simultaneous bioimaging and drug delivery via direct intratumoral injection, doxorubicin and Ag2S quantum dots co-loaded multifunctional niosomes were prepared and fully characterized. Various theranostic niosomes were prepared and investigated regarding cytotoxicity, in vivo imaging, drug accumulation in breast cancer tumor and antitumor activity. Niosomes composed of Tween-60, Tween-80 or Span 60 produced strong and more durable detectable fluorescence signals. Despite a higher accumulation of Tween-60 niosomes in tumor, the Span 60 formulation showed the highest antitumor efficacy when compared with the free drug (71.7 and 20.3% inhibition in tumor growth, respectively). Direct intratumoral injection of theranostic niosomes with appropriate composition could be a powerful tool for combined multimodal imaging and therapy.