pH, redox and photothermal tri-responsive DNA/polyethylenimine conjugated gold nanorods as nanocarriers for specific intracellular co-release of doxorubicin and chemosensitizer pyronaridine to combat multidrug resistant cancer

We constructed a new pH, redox and photothermal tri-responsive DNA/polyethylenimine conjugated gold nanocarrier for co-encapsulating doxorubicin (DOX) and chemosensitizer pyronaridine (PND) to maximize antitumor effects on multidrug resistance (MDR) MCF-7/ADR cells. DOX and PND were firstly loaded by a nanocomplex for MDR cancer cells treatment. The double strain DNA (dsDNA) would produce a rapid, highly conformational switch under slightly acidic conditions. Moreover, as a photothermal transducer, gold nanorods could efficiency absorb and convert NIR laser radiation into localized photothermal heating to dehybridize the dsDNA. Thus, this work is significant and interesting for exploiting nanomedicines to effectively treat MDR cancers.196