PEGylated (NH4)xWO3 nanorods as efficient and stable multifunctional nanoagents for simultaneous CT imaging and photothermal therapy of tumor

- Hydrophilic (NH4)xWO3-PEG nanorods have been prepared.
- (NH4)xWO3-PEG nanorods exhibit strong NIR absorption and photothermal effects.
- (NH4)xWO3-PEG nanorods have strong X-ray attenuation ability for CT imaging.
- Cancer cells in vivo can be destroyed by the photothermal effects.

The simultaneous imaging and photothermal therapy of tumors have attracted much attention, and a prerequisite is to obtain multifunctional nanomaterials. Ideally, one kind of nanoparticles with single component can be used as both imaging agent and photothermal agent. Herein, we have developed the PEGylated (NH4)xWO3 (denoted as (NH4)xWO3-PEG) nanorods as multifunctional nanoparticles with single semiconductor component. (NH4)xWO3-PEG nanorods with about 30 nm diameter and length of several hundred nanometers have been obtained through a solvothermal synthesis-PEGylation two-step route. Under the irradiation of 980-nm laser with intensity of 0.72 W cm− 2, aqueous dispersion of (NH4)xWO3-PEG nanorods (0.67-5.44 mmol/L) displays high elevation (17.6-34.5 °C) of temperature in 400 s, accompanied by an excellent long-term photothermal stability. Furthermore, (NH4)xWO3-PEG nanorods exhibit as high as 6 times X-ray attenuation ability compared to that of the clinically used iodine-based X-ray computed tomography (CT) contrast agent (Iopromide). More importantly, after PBS solution of (NH4)xWO3-PEG nanorods is injected into the tumor of mice, the tumor can be effectively detected by CT imaging. Moreover, cancer cells in vivo can be further destroyed by the photothermal effects of (NH4)xWO3-PEG nanorods, under the irradiation of 980-nm laser with the safe intensity of 0.72 W cm− 2 for 10 min. Therefore, (NH4)xWO3-PEG nanorods can be used as a new kind of stable and efficient multifunctional nanoagent with single component for simultaneous CT imaging and photothermal therapy of tumor.

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