Combined Photothermal‐Photodynamic Therapy by Ce6 loaded on MoO2 functional nanoplatform

In recent decades, a cocktail of different anticancer therapies has aroused intensive interest of many researchers. Drug delivery systems (DDS) based on nanoplatforms have exhibited great potential in this field. In this work, a novel photothermal DDS was designed with ZrO 2 -coated MoO 2 , which capped with Bi 2 O 3 and modified with AS1411 aptamer. The photosensitizer, chlorin e6 (Ce6), was successfully delivered to the tumor sites by the designed DDS. Bi 2 O 3 endows the nanoplatform with the ability of releasing Ce6 rapidly in tumor microenvironment while the AS1411 aptamer can target the nucleolin overexpressed on the tumors. The drug-loaded nanoagent exhibits great photothermal conversion ability, good tumor targeting, and better anti-cancer effects than the individual therapy both in vitro and in vivo . This work explores a new route for photothermal-photodynamic combined therapy and a new treatment modality for tumor ablation.