Idarubicin and IR780 co-loaded PEG-b-PTMC nanoparticle for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma therapy by photothermal/photodynamic strategy

[Display omitted] •An effective nanoparticle system for carrying IR780 and Idarubicin was designed to combine PTT/PDT and chemotherapy to treat NHL.•Upon near-infrared laser irradiation at 808 nm, PEG-b-PTMC nanoparticle showed strong PTT/PDT efficacy with high-efficiency endocytosis and increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation.•IR780 + IDA NPs has been successfully delivered and exhibited significant synergistic effects on inhibiting cell proliferation in Raji and U937 cells.•IR780 + IDA NPs shows a significant therapeutic effect on lymphoma and has excellent biocompatibility and safety in vivo. A certain proportion of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) patients will relapse after standard chemotherapy with an anthracycline-based regimen. Therefore, identifying novel therapeutic methods are a vital topic for improving therapeutic effects of NHL. IR780, a near-infrared dye, can be used as a photosensitizer both for photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT). In this study, we designed an effective nanoparticle system for carrying IR780 and Idarubicin, thus hoping to combine PTT/PDT and chemotherapy to treat NHL. This nanosystem consisted of PEG-b-PTMC nanoparticles. IR780 and Idarubicin (IDA) were loaded separately into PEG-b-PTMC nanoparticles, which had regular sphere shapes and relatively small sizes. Upon near-infrared laser irradiation at 808 nm, PEG-b-PTMC nanoparticle (IR780 + IDA NPs) showed strong PTT/PDT efficacy with high-efficiency endocytosis and increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. By the evaluation of the photothermal conversion, we can confirm that IR780 + IDA NPs has been successfully delivered and exhibited significant synergistic effects on inhibiting cell proliferation in Raji and U937 cells. In vivo experiments have also demonstrated that IR780 + IDA NPs has a significant inhibitory effect on lymphoma and has a good biological safety. In summary, we put forward a therapeutic strategy for NHL treatment by combining PTT/PDT and chemotherapy.