Enhanced photodynamic therapy/photothermo therapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma via a tumour microenvironment-responsive self-oxygenated drug delivery system

摘要

The hypoxic nature of tumours limits the efficiency of oxygen-dependent photodynamic therapy(PDT).Hence,in this study,indocyanine green(ICG)-loaded lipid-coated zinc peroxide(ZnO_(2))nanoparticles(ZnO_(2)@Lip-ICG)was constructed to realize tumour microenvironment(TME)-responsive self-oxygen supply.Near infrared light irradiation(808 nm),the lipid outer layer of ICG acquires sufficient energy to produce heat,thereby elevating the localised temperature,which results in accelerated ZnO_(2)release and apoptosis of tumour cells.The ZnO_(2)rapidly generates O_(2)in the TME(pH 6.5),which alleviates tumour hypoxia and then enhances the PDT effect of ICG.These results demonstrate that ZnO_(2)@Lip-ICG NPs display good oxygen self-supported properties and outstanding PDT/PTT characteristics,and thus,achieve good tumour proliferation suppression.