DNA-mediated biomineralization of rare-earth nanoparticles for simultaneous imaging and stimuli-responsive drug delivery

A DNA-guided method for surface engineering of NaGdF4:Ce/Tb hybrid nanoparticle has been proposed. In this study, the DNA molecules that retained after one-pot NaGdF4:Ce/Tb synthesis is directly utilized as biotemplate for CaP heterogeneous nucleation, thus the dual-purpose function of DNA is realized in the current study which could afford a new type of pH-responsive theranostic platform to enhance the therapeutic efficiency while minimizing side effects. The introduction of another layer of aptamer molecules on CaP facilitated cellular uptake of the resulting nanocomposite into specific target cells via receptor-mediated endocytosis. After been taken by the target tumor cells, the NaGdF4:Ce/Tb@CaP was found to be mostly accumulated in lysosome, which facilitated the dissolving of CaP coatings as non-toxic ions to initiate drug release and efficient cancer cell destruction. We envision that the hybrid nanocarrier may serve as practical and multifunctional probe for cancer therapy and the presented synthesis approach here may also benefit the preparation of many other types of multifunctional inorganic-biomolecular hybrid nanostructures based on the DNA nanotechnology.