Temperature-Sensitive Lipid-Coated Carbon Nanotubes for Synergistic Photothermal Therapy and Gene Therapy

• Published in: ACS nano Vol. 15; no. 4; pp. 6517 - 6529
• Main Authors: Zhao, Yinan, Zhao, Tianyi, Cao, Yingnan, Sun, Jiao, Zhou, Quan, Chen, Huiying, Guo, Shutao, Wang, Yifeng, Zhen, Yuhong, Liang, Xing-Jie, Zhang, Shubiao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 27.04.2021
• Subjects: Cell Line, Tumor; Genetic Therapy; Lipids; Nanotubes, Carbon; Phototherapy; Photothermal Therapy; Temperature; gene therapy; temperature-sensitive lipids; carbon nanotubes; photothermal therapy; synergistic therapies
• ISSN: 1936-0851; 1936-086X
• DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c08790

The combination of photothermal therapy (PTT) and gene therapy (GT) shows great potential to achieve synergistic anti-tumor activity. However, the lack of a controlled release of genes from carriers remains a severe hindrance. Herein, peptide lipid (PL) and sucrose laurate (SL) were used to coat single-walled carbon nanotubes (SCNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MCNTs) to form bifunctional delivery systems (denoted SCNT-PS and MCNT-PS, respectively) with excellent temperature-sensitivity and photothermal performance. CNT/siRNA suppressed tumor growth by silencing survivin expression while exhibiting photothermal effects under near-infrared (NIR) light. SCNT-PS/siRNA showed very high anti-tumor activity, resulting in the complete inhibition of some tumors. It was highly efficient for systemic delivery to tumor sites and to facilitate siRNA release owing to the phase transition of the temperature-sensitive lipids, due to PL and SL coating. Thus, SCNT-PS/siRNA is a promising anti-tumor nanocarrier for combined PTT and GT.