Cu(II) doped polyaniline nanoshuttles for multimodal tumor diagnosis and therapy

Nanodevices for multimodal tumor theranostics have shown great potentials for noninvasive tumor diagnosis and therapy, but the libraries of multimodal theranostic building blocks should be further stretched. In this work, Cu(II) ions are doped into polyaniline (Pani) nanoshuttles (NSs) to produce Cu-doped Pani (CuPani) NSs, which are demonstrated as new multimodal building blocks to perform tumor theranostics. The CuPani NSs are capable of shortening the longitudinal relaxation (T1) of protons under magnetic fields and can help light up tumors in T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. In addition, the released Cu(II) ions from CuPani NSs lead to cytotoxicity, showing the behavior of chemotherapeutic agent. The good photothermal performance of CuPani NSs also makes them as photothermal agents to perform thermochemotherapy. By combining near-infrared laser irradiation, a complete tumor ablation is achieved and no tumor recurrence is observed.