Targeting mesoporous silica-encapsulated gold nanorods for chemo-photothermal therapy with near-infrared radiation

Mesoporous silica-encapsulated gold nanorods (GNRs@mSiO2) have great potential both in photothermal therapy and drug delivery. In this paper, we firstly developed GNRs@mSiO2 as a synergistic therapy tool for delivery heat and drug to the tumorigenic region. We studied the ablation of tumor both in vitro and in vivo by the combination of photothermal therapy and chemotherapy using doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded GNRs@mSiO2. Significantly greater cell killing was observed when A549 cells incubated with DOX-loaded GNRs@mSiO2 were irradiated with near-infrared (NIR) illumination, attributable to both GNRs@mSiO2-mediated photothermal ablation and cytotoxicity of light-triggered DOX release. We then performed in vivo therapy studies and observed a promising tumor treatment. Compared with chemotherapy or photothermal treatment alone, the combined treatment showed a synergistic effect, resulting in higher therapeutic efficacy. Furthermore, the lower systematic toxicity of GNRs@mSiO2 has been validated.