Synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy of tumor by hollow carbon nanospheres

Combined use of different therapies is conducive to improve the effectiveness of cancer therapy. The chemo-photothermal therapy is commonly used in one nanocarrier to provide an excellent synergistic effect for cancer therapy over photothermal therapy (PTT) or chemotherapy alone. In this study, biocompatible and monodisperse hollow carbon nanospheres (HCNs) were developed as a multifunctional platform for the delivery of paclitaxel (PTX) and PTT of cancer simultaneously. The mesoporous HCNs have large pore volume and proper channels for loading and release of PTX. Upon near-infrared (NIR) laser illumination, the photothermal mediator of HCNs could effectively convert absorbed light into heat, which triggered rapid release of chemotherapeutic drug from HCNs through dissociating the interactions between PTX and HCNs by heat energy. A large number of tumor cells were significantly destroyed when hct116 cells treated with PTX@HCNs were irradiated, which was mainly attribute to the synergistic result of HCNs-mediated photothermal damage and cytotoxicity of light-triggered PTX release.