Novel Fe(III)-Polybasic acid coordination polymer nanoparticles with targeted retention for photothermal and chemodynamic therapy of tumor

The development of Fe-coordination polymer-based nanoparticles, with safe and high anti-tumor effects, for the treatment of tumor is facing challenges such as limited resources and poor targeting. In this study, we prepared Fe-polyhydroxy coordination polymer nanoparticles (TA-Fe@MNPs), based on tartaric acid (TA)-Fe(III) coordination polymer as the new photothermal agent, mannose (M) as the target, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) and polyethyleneimine (PEI) as the carrier materials, and investigated them for targeting the multifunctional therapy of tumors. The TA-Fe@MNPs synthesized via a simple coordination of Fe3+ with TA, bovine serum albumin, and polyethyleneimine under ambient conditions exhibited an appropriate size (~125 nm), electrically neutral surfaces, good biocompatibility, and low normal cell toxicity. The TA-Fe@MNPs are the first to exhibit a remarkable photothermal performance. They also showed a pH-sensitive Fenton-like response that was further enhanced via glutathione response. Interestingly, after a single injection, the TA-Fe@MNPs could be retained at the tumor site for 36 h with an effective photothermal dose, which was attributed to the reduced protein adsorption and slow elimination in tumor cells with the aid of M modification and carrier materials, while that for the TA-Fe@NPs did so for only 2 h. Tumor ablation was demonstrated by in vivo photothermal and chemokinetic therapy using TA-Fe@MNPs, and their safety was evident from the weight changes and blood parameters. These results indicated that the TA-Fe@MNPs, as new photothermal and CDT agents, have the potential to be used in clinical tumor therapy nanoplatforms.