Hollow gold nanoshells-incorporated injectable genetically engineered hydrogel for sustained chemo-photothermal...

Combined therapy has demonstrated to be an effective strategy for cancer therapy. Herein, an injectable hydrogel based on the genetically engineered polypeptide and hollow gold nanoshells (HAuNS) has been developed for chemo-photothermal therapy of HepG2 tumor.

PC₁₀A/DOX/HAuNS nanogel was prepared with layer-by-layer through the adsorption of DOX and PC₁₀A successively. DOX with positive charge and PC₁₀A with negative charge were coated step by step onto the surface of negatively charged HAuNS. The multifunctional hydrogel PC₁₀A/DOX/HAuNS were prepared via dissolving hybrid PC₁₀A/DOX/HAuNS nanogel in polypeptide PC₁₀A. Chemotherapy drug DOX in the PC₁₀A/DOX/HAuNS hydrogel was absorbed on the HAuNS and directly embedded in the PC₁₀A hydrogel, which contributes to sequentially release of the drug. Specifically, DOX adsorbed on the HAuNS could be released slowly for sustainable chemotherapy.

The PC₁₀A/DOX/HAuNS hydrogel could pass 26-gauge needle without clogging, indicating that it is injectable. In addition, the PC₁₀A/DOX/HAuNS hydrogel possessed outstanding photothermal effect and photothermal stability. In both in vitro cell and in vivo tumor-bearing mice experiments, a remarkably enhance tumor inhibition was observed by the combined therapy of chemo-photothermal therapy compared with photothermal therapy or chemotherapy alone.

The combined chemotherapy and photothermal therapy of PC₁₀A/DOX/HAuNS hydrogels could significantly improve the therapeutic effect. Therefore, the multifunctional hydrogel PC₁₀A/DOX/HAuNS is promising to provide a new strategy for sustained chemo-photothermal therapy.