CaP coated mesoporous polydopamine nanoparticles with responsive membrane permeation ability for combined photothermal and siRNA therapy

Combined photothermal and gene therapy provides a promising modality toward cancer treatment, yet facile integration and controlled codelivery of gene payloads and photothermal conversion agents (PTCAs) remains a great challenge. Inspired by the robust wet adhesion of marine mussels, we present a rationally designed nanosystem constructed by using hybrid mesoporous polydopamine nanoparticles (MPDA) with sub-100 nm sizes and a high photothermal conversion efficiency of 37%. The surface of the particles were modified with tertiary amines by the facile Michael addition/Schiff base reactions of PDA to realize high siRNA loading capacity (10 wt%). Moreover, a successful calcium phosphate (CaP) coating via biomineralization was constructed on the cationic nanoparticle to prohibit premature release of siRNA. The CaP coating underwent biodegradation in weakly-acidic subcellular conditions (lysosomes). The synergistic integration of tertiary amines and catechol moieties on the subsequently exposed surfaces was demonstrated to feature the destabilization/disruption ability toward model cellular membranes via the greatly enhanced interfacial adhesion and interactions. Consequently, sufficient permeability of lysosomal membranes, and in turn, a high lysosomal escape efficiency, was realized, which then resulted in high gene silencing efficiencies via sufficient cytosolic delivery of siRNA. When an efficient knocking down (65%) of survivin (an inhibitor of apoptosis proteins) was combined with a subsequent photothermal ablation, remarkably higher therapeutic efficiencies were observed both in vitro and in vivo, as compared with monotherapy. The system may help to pave a new avenue on the utilization of bio-adhesive surfaces for handling the obstacles of combined photothermal and gene therapy. Polydopamine (PDA) based porous photothermal-conversion agent (PTCA) with sufficiently high conversion efficiency was employed to deliver photothermal/gene therapy modalities towards cancer treatment. CaP coating via PDA-induced biomineralization was constructed to prohibit premature release of siRNA loaded in the pore space of the nanocarriers. Responsive degradation of CaP also led to the exposure of membrane-lytic surfaces built through the synergistic integration of tertiary amines and catechol moieties, and in turn the significantly enhanced lysosomal escape and cytosol siRNA delivery. Therapeutic targeting of survivin was successfully applied for activation of apoptosis and programmed cell death. Combined photothermal and gene therapy improved therapeutic effectiveness.