Hollow carbon nanospheres loaded with upconversion nanoparticles for chemo-photothermal synergistic cancer therapy

Nanomaterials possess multidisciplinary capabilities in cancer diagnosis and treatment, including imaging and therapeutic, and thus have wide range of applications in the field of nanomedicine. To exploit these capabilities, herein we report a novel nanoplatform of upconversion nanoparticle (UCNPs)-decorated hollow mesoporous carbon nanoparticles (HMCNs@UCNPs) prepared by a facile hydrothermal approach. Morphological and structural analyses of the newly synthesized nanomaterial were performed using high-resolution TEM (HR-TEM), XRD, and BET techniques. The porous nature of the HMCNs@UCNPs nanomaterial further assisted to load anticancer drug (DOX, doxorubicin) effectively. Hence, the DOX-modified nanoplatform HMCNs@UCNPs-DOX worked as a multimodal theranostic probe, concurrently demonstrating chemotherapeutic as well as photothermal effects subjected to NIR-stimulation. Additionally, synergistic effects of the developed nanoplatform were confirmed by in vitro and in vivo studies using MCF-7 cell line and mouse models, respectively. Graphical Abstract