Customized multi-stimuli nanovehicles with dissociable ‘bomblets’ for photothermal-enhanced synergetic tumor therapy

Recently, the therapeutic effect of chemotherapy has been obviously impaired due to premature drug release, low tumor penetration, and multidrug resistance of nanoplatforms. In this paper, a novel multiple-sensitive drug delivery system (MC-ss-CDs) was developed by gating long-wavelength emitting carbon dots (CDs) on the openings of mesoporous carbon nanoparticles (MC) through disulfide bonds. The MC with excellent photothermal transition efficiency and high drug storage capacity for doxorubicin (DOX) was used as the delivery carrier. The CDs had multiple functions, including intelligent switching to hinder unwanted release, photothermal therapy (PTT) agents to improve the heat generation effect of MCs and bioimaging trackers to monitor drug delivery. The disulfide bonds, as the linkers between MC carriers and CDs, are stable under normal physical conditions and relatively labile under high GSH concentrations in the cytoplasm of tumor cells. After arriving at the tumor microenvironment, DOX/MC-ss-CDs can rapidly break into DOX/MC and CDs under high GSH concentrations. DOX/MC could realize efficient integration of PTT and chemotherapy on the surface of the tumor by stimuli-responsive DOX release and synergetic heating of MC and CDs. The small-sized CDs with excellent penetrating ability could effectively enter the deep tumor and realize NIR-triggered photothermal ablation. The DOX/MC-ss-CDs showed a chemophotothermal effect with a combination index of 0.38 in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, the DOX/MC-ss-CDs could be employed as a trackable nanovehicle for synergistic chemotherapy and PTT at different depths. [Display omitted] •Mesoporous carbon (MC) was used as a NIR-absorbing carrier with high drug loading.•Red-emitting CDs were gated on the openings of MC by disulfide bonds.•CDs were used as photothermal agents, smart capping, and fluorescence marker.•DOX/MC-ss-CDs can realize synergistic chemotherapy and PTT at different depths.