Fluorescence imaging-guided multifunctional liposomes for tumor-specific phototherapy for laryngeal carcinoma

Reliable diagnosis and efficient targeted therapy are important and may lead to the effective treatment of laryngeal carcinoma. Multifunctional nano-theranostic agents demonstrate great potential in tumor theranostic applications. Thus, herein, we report novel targeting multifunctional theranostic nanoparticles, internalized RGD (iRGD)-modified indocyanine green (ICG) encapsulated liposomes (iLIP_ICG), for imaging-guided photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) for the treatment of laryngeal carcinoma. The iRGD-PEG-DSPE lipid endowed iLIP_ICG with high affinity for tumor vascular targeting, tumor-penetration and tumor cell targeting. The in vivo results showed that iLIP_ICG exhibited excellent blood circulation and tumor accumulation. iLIP_ICG could be spatially and temporally controlled, simultaneously producing hyperthermia and reactive oxygen species as well as a fluorescence-guided effect through ICG to ablate laryngeal carcinoma cells under irradiation from an 808 nm laser. iLIP_ICG generated synergistic photodynamic-photothermal cytotoxicity against Hep-2 cells, resulting in the efficient ablation of laryngeal carcinoma. Thus, the iLIP_ICG system provides a promising strategy to improve the precision imaging and effective phototherapy for the treatment of laryngeal carcinoma.