Authors: Wee Kong Ong, Xuemei Yao, Deblin Jana, Menghuan Li, Yanli Zhao, Zhong Luo
Published: 2020-09-24
Source: Full article
While Fe3O4 nanoparticles are frequently exploited for the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the cancer treatment, its therapeutic performance within a yolk–shell nanostructure for Fenton reaction remains unexplored. To investigate the therapeutic potential, a nanoreactor (YSN@ZnPc@HA) is fabricated by loading zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) into a yolk–shell nanocomposite (YSN) consisting of Fe3O4 nanoparticles encapsulated by MgSiO3, followed by modifying the silica surface with hyaluronic acid (HA). ZnPc is a typical photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy; Fe3O4 nanoparticles are responsible for Fenton reaction‐based generation of toxic ·OH radicals and also enable magnetic resonance imaging; and HA serves as tumor‐targeting ligand. The obtained YSN@ZnPc@HA is fully characterized by several techniques. Its therapeutic performance is studied both in vitro and in vivo. The experimental results indicate that Fe3O4 nanoparticles in YSN@ZnPc@HA can successfully enhance the therapeutic efficiency of ZnPc by selectively producing ROS in cancer cells. In addition, YSN@ZnPc@HA shows potent T2‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging capacity. These results collectively demonstrate that the YSN@ZnPc@HA nanoparticles can be used as a robust delivery platform for cancer theranostics.