Cell Membrane-Coated Halloysite Nanotubes for Target-Specific Nanocarrier for Cancer Phototherapy

Naturally-occurring halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) have many advantages for constructing target-specific delivery of phototherapeutic agents. Here, HNTs were labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and loaded with the type-II photosensitizer indocyanine green (ICG) for phototherapy. HNTs-FITC-ICG was structurally stable due to presence of HNTs as the nanocarrier and protective agent. The nanocarrier was further wrapped with red blood cell membrane (RBCM) to enhance the biocompatibility. The HNTs-FITC-ICG-RBCM nanocarrier show high cytocompatibility and hemocompatibility. Due to the photothermal effect of ICG, a significant temperature rising was achieved by irradiation of the nanocarrier using 808 nm laser. The photothermal temperature rising was used to kill the cancer cells effectively. The HNTs-FITC-ICG-RBCM nanocarrier was further linked with anti-EpCAM to endow it with targeting therapy performance against breast cancer, and the anti-EpCAM-conjugated nanocarrier exhibited significantly tumor-specific accumulation. The RBCM-coated and biocompatible HNTs nanocarrier is a promising candidate for target-specific therapy of cancer.