Mesoporous\nSilica Coated Polydopamine Functionalized Reduced Graphene Oxide\nfor Synergistic Targeted Chemo-Photothermal Therapy

Abstract

The integration of different therapies\ninto a single nanoplatform\nhas shown great promise for synergistic tumor treatment. Herein, mesoporous\nsilica (MS) coated polydopamine functionalized reduced graphene oxide\n(pRGO) further modified with hyaluronic acid (HA) (pRGO@MS-HA) has\nbeen utilized as a versatile nanoplatform for synergistic targeted\nchemo-photothermal therapy against cancer. A facile and green chemical\nmethod is adopted for the simultaneous reduction and noncovalent functionalization\nof graphene oxide (GO) by using mussel inspired dopamine (DA) to enhance\nbiocompatibility and the photothermal effect. Then, it was coated\nwith mesoporous silica (MS) (pRGO@MS) to enhance doxorubicin (DOX)\nloading and be further modified with the targeting moieties hyaluronic\nacid (HA). The pH-dependent and near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation-triggered\nDOX release from pRGO@MS­(DOX)-HA is observed, which could enhance\nthe chemo-photothermal therapy effect. <i>In vitro</i> experimental\nresults confirm that pRGO@MS­(DOX)-HA exhibits good dispersibility,\nexcellent photothermal property, remarkable tumor cell killing efficiency,\nand specificity to target tumor cells. <i>In vivo</i> antitumor\nexperiments further demonstrated that pRGO@MS­(DOX)-HA could exhibit\nan excellent synergistic antitumor efficacy, which is much more distinct\nthan any monotherapy. This work presents a novel nanoplatform which\ncould load chemotherapy drugs with high efficiency and be used as\nlight-mediated photothermal cancer therapy agent.