Self-Assembled Fe3+-Baicalin Nanoparticles for Combined Photothermal and Chemodynamic Therapy

The combination of photothermal and chemodynamic therapy (PTT/CDT) has promising anticancer effect. Nonetheless, the large-scale preparation of multifunctional nanotherapeutics with good water-solubility and biocompatibility using simple methods remains a major challenge. Herein, we prepared multifunctional nanoparticles (Fe–Ba NPs) by combining Fe3+ with baicalin via a simple coordination assisted self-assembly method, as the carbonyl and phenolic hydroxyl groups in baicalin have strong coordination interaction with Fe3+. The obtained NPs exhibit a broad absorption spectrum extending to near-infrared region and have an excellent photothermal conversion efficiency of 91.1 %. In addition, glutathione (GSH), which is highly expressed in tumor, can reduce Fe3+ in Fe–Ba NPs to Fe2+. On the one hand, Fe2+ can further react with H2O2 to generate hydroxy radical, resulting in CDT. Conversely, depletion of GSH in tumors can disrupt redox homeostasis and upregulate CDT-mediated oxidative damage, leading to enhanced CDT effect. By integrating PTT and CDT, Fe–Ba NPs can greatly improve the therapeutic efficacy. This research introduces a strategy for the design and synthesis of multifunctional nanotherapeutic reagents.