Light-Driven Biomimetic Nanomotors for Enhanced Photothermal Therapy

Nanotechnology-based strategy has recently drawn extensive attention for the therapy of malignant tumors due to its distinct strengths in cancer diagnosis and treatment. However, the limited intratumoral permeability of nanoparticles is a major hurdle to achieving the desired effect of cancer treatment. Due to their superior cargo towing and reliable penetrating property, micro-/nanomotors (MNMs) are considered as one of the most potential candidates for the coming generation of drug delivery platforms. Here, near-infrared (NIR)-actuated biomimetic nanomotors (4T1-JPGSs-IND) are fabricated successfully and we demonstrate that 4T1-JPGSs-IND selectively accumulate in homologous tumor regions due to the effective homing ability. Upon laser irradiation, hyperthermia generated by 4T1-JPGSs-IND leads to self-thermophoretic motion and photothermal therapy (PTT) to ablate tumors with a deep depth, thereby improving the photothermal therapeutic effect for cancer management. The developed nanomotor system with multifunctionalities exhibits promising potential in biomedical applications to fight against various diseases.