A visual guide to gene/optothermal synergy therapy nanosystem using tungsten oxide

Combination of gene therapy and photothermal therapy (PTT) has drawn much attention in cancer therapy in recent years. However, this joint treatment process lacks fluorescence imaging visualization guidance that limits its clinical applications in oncotherapy. Herein, we report the use of gene therapy and tungsten oxide (W18O49, WO) synthetized with template method for combined PTT of cancer. In this system, a novel nanoplatform, with Bax gene, WO and indocyanine green (ICG) loaded in mesoporous silica nanoparticle had been successfully constructed, which was used as the near-infrared imaging-guided gene/optothermal multi-modal oncotherapy. These nanoparticles could achieve a synergistic therapy effect of gene therapy and PTT for tumor under 808 nm near-infrared (NIR) laser excitation. In vivo animal experiments showed that they could cause solid tumor regression under 808 nm NIR light irradiation, revealing the potential of these nanocomposites as a fluorescence imaging-guided multi-modal therapeutic nanosystem for tumor visual synergistic treatment.