Efficient cancer ablation by combined photothermal and enhanced chemo-therapy based on carbon nanoparticles/doxorubicin@SiO2 nanocomposites

The combination of different treatments in cancer therapy has drawn massive attention in the last decades due to its superior anticancer ability to single treatment. One of the most useful strategies to achieve this purpose is to design and construct efficient multifunctional nanoplatforms. Here we report our effort in development of carbon nanoparticles/doxorubicin@SiO2 nanocomposites and their application for combined photothermal and chemo-therapy in cancer ablation. The nanocomposites are obtained via reverse microemulsion method with controlled size and high drug loading ratio. These nanocomposites possess high heat-generating ability, pH responsive drug delivery, and heat-induced high drug release as well. In vitro experiment reveals that the combined photothermal and chemo-therapy exhibits much higher toxicity to 4T1 cells than photothermal therapy or chemotherapy alone. In vivo experiment reveals that compared with single treatment, the combined photothermal and chemo-therapy can effectively inhibit tumor growth and destroy it eventually without cancer recurrence. The current research demonstrates that carbon nanoparticles/doxorubicin@SiO2 nanocomposites can be used as an efficient nanoplatform for combined cancer photothermal and chemo-therapy.