Bicompatible porous Co3O4 nanoplates with intrinsic tumor metastasis inhibition for multimodal imaging and DNA damage-mediated tumor synergetic photothermal/photodynamic therapy

摘要

It will be interesting and yet challenging to develop a near-infrared (NIR) laser trigger phototheranostics agent for multimodal imaging guided synergistic phototherapy. In addition, the mechanisms of phototheranostics agent or in combination with NIR for tumor therapy remain unclear. Herein, we fabricate porous Co3O4 nanoplates (pCo(3)O(4) NPs) using a hydrothermal process followed by a calcination treatment. We demonstrate that pCo(3)O(4) NPs are a promising phototheranostics agent for multimodal imaging (photoacoustic/magnetic resonance imaging) and a NIR laser triggered photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) of tumors without apparent side effects. Moreover, RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis highlights that pCo(3)O(4) NPs can suppress tumor metastasis via inhibiting epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) pathway. In addition, pCo(3)O(4) NPs could kill tumor cells via inducing DNA damage after NIR irradiation. In summary, the data reveal that pCo(3)O(4) NPs + NIR could effectively suppress tumorigenesis, and further highlight their potential as a nanomaterial-based multimodal imaging contrast agent and precise DNA damage-mediated tumor synergetic phototherapy, providing new insights to fully understand and use phototheranostics agent in the future.