Mn2+-doped ZrO2@PDA nanocomposite for multimodal imaging-guided chemo-photothermal combination therapy

Developing low toxicity and multifunctional theranostic nanoplatform is the key for precise cancer diagnosis and treatment. Herein, an inorganic-organic hybrid nanocomposite is designed by modifying zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) with polydopamine (PDA) followed by doping Mn2+ ions and functionalizing with Tween 20 (Tween-ZrO2@PDA-Mn2+) for multimodal imaging and chemo-photothermal combination therapy. The as-prepared nanocomposite exhibits good biocompatibility in vitro and in vivo. Specifically, it can be employed as a multifunctional platform not only for computed tomography (CT) imaging and T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, but also for efficient chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) loading. Importantly, because of the pronounced photothermal conversion performance and controllable DOX release ability triggered by the near-infrared (NIR) irradiation and acidic pH, the synergistic effect between photothermal therapy and chemotherapy results in an enhanced cancer treatment efficacy in vivo. Our work provides a high-performance inorganic-organic hybrid nanotheranostic platform for chemo-photothermal cancer therapy guided by CT and MR imaging.