Nanocolloidosomes with Selective Drug Release for Active Tumor-Targeted Imaging-Guided Photothermal/Chemo Combination Therapy

Selective drug release is highly desirable for photothermal/chemo combination therapy when two or even more theranostic agents are encapsulated together within the same nanocarrier. A conventional nanocarrier can hardly achieve this goal. Herein, doxorubicin and indocyanine green (DOX/ICG)-loaded nanocolloidosomes (NCs), with selective drug release, were fabricated as a novel multifunctional theranostic nanoplatform for photothermal/chemo combination therapy. Templating from galactose-functionalized hydroxyethyl starch-polycaprolactone (Gal-HES-PCL) nanoparticles-stabilized Pickering emulsions, the resultant DOX/ICG@Gal-HES-PCL NCs had a diameter of around 140 nm and showed an outstanding tumor-targeting ability, preferable tumor penetration capability, and promotion of photothermal effect. Moreover, these NCs can be used for NIR fluorescence imaging and thus render real-time imaging of solid tumors with high contrast. Collectively, such NCs achieved the best in vivo antitumor efficacy combined with laser irradiation compared with DOX/ICG@HES-PCL NCs and DOX/ICG mixture. These NCs are valuable for active tumor-targeted imaging-guided combination therapy against liver cancer and potentially other diseases.