Cancer Cell Membrane-Coated Gold Nanocages with Hyperthermia-Triggered Drug Release and Homotypic Target Inhibit Growth and Metastasis of Breast Cancer

The cell-specific targeting drug delivery and controlled release of drug at the cancer cells are still the main challenges for anti-breast cancer metastasis therapy. Herein, the authors first report a biomimetic drug delivery system composed of doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded gold nanocages (AuNs) as the inner cores and 4T1 cancer cell membranes (CMVs) as the outer shells (coated surface of DOX-incorporated AuNs (CDAuNs)). The CDAuNs, perfectly utilizing the natural cancer cell membranes with the homotypic targeting and hyperthermia-responsive ability to cap the DAuNs with the photothermal property, can realize the selective targeting of the homotypic tumor cells, hyperthermia-triggered drug release under the near-infrared laser irradiation, and the combination of chemo/photothermal therapy. The CDAuNs exhibit a stimuli-release of DOX under the hyperthermia and a high cell-specific targeting of the 4T1 cells in vitro. Moreover, the excellent combinational therapy with about 98.9% and 98.5% inhibiting rates of the tumor volume and metastatic nodules is observed in the 4T1 orthotopic mammary tumor models. As a result, CDAuNs can be a promising nanodelivery system for the future therapy of breast cancer.