Aptamer-functionalized gold nanoparticles as photoresponsive nanoplatform for co-drug delivery

Various platforms have been developed as innovative nanocarriers to deliver therapeutic agents to the diseased sites. Multifunctional surface modification allows an enhanced recognition and uptake of drug carriers by targeted cells. However, the development of drug resistance in some tumor cells plays a major role in the failure of chemotherapy. Drugs given in combination, called multidrug delivery approach, was designed to improve the therapeutic efficacy and has become an increasingly used strategy that is of great importance in clinical cancer treatments. In this study, aptamer-functionalized gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) have been used as a nanoplatform to codeliver two different anticancer drugs for improving the drug effectiveness. The surface of Au NPs (13 nm in diameter) was assembled with AS1411 aptamers, which tethered with 21-base pairs of (CGATCGA)3 sequence approached to the Au NPs. Both the photosensitizer 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(1-methylpyridinium-4-yl) porphyrin (TMPyP4) and the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin (Dox) were then physically attached to the AS1411-conjugated Au NPs (T/D:ds-NPs) and delivered to the target tumor cells such as HeLa and Dox-resistant MCF-7R cell lines. When exposed to a 632 nm light, reactive oxygen species induced by TMPyP4 molecules were generated inside the living cells, followed by cell damage. In addition, triggered release of the complementary drugs also occurred simultaneously during the photodynamic reaction. In the presence of Dox molecules, the toxicity toward the target cells was superior to individual drug treatment. Overall, a co-drug delivery platform was successfully established to improve the therapeutic efficacy in tumor cells. The improvement of the photodynamic-stimulated triggered release was enhanced, thus highly promising precise drug release in targeted drug delivery.