The enhanced photothermal therapy against gastric cancer by mitochondria/STAT3-targeted nanoplatform with OXPHOS blocking

Near-infrared (NIR) photothermal therapy (PTT) has provided an innovative modality for the ablation of gastric cancer (GC) with minimized damage to normal tissues. However, the upregulation of heat shock proteins (HSPs) and the abnormal vascularization at the tumor site, as well as the low specificity with the diffusional hindrance of therapeutic agents to cancer cells, severely hamper this mono-therapeutic strategy. To overcome these obstacles, we designed and prepared a mitochondria/STAT3-targeted nanoplatform (ATO/CR NPs), which is self-assembled by Drug Administration (FDA)-approved atorvaquinone (ATO) and NIR phototherapeutic agent CR to fight GC. The ATO/CR NPs exhibit enhanced PTT efficiency owing to the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) blocking in mitochondria for the downregulation of ATP and HSP based on ATO. More importantly, the ATO from ATO/CR NPs can also specifically target STAT3 in GC cells to restrain proliferation, inhibit angiogenesis, and promote apoptosis. Hence, the multimodal NIR ATO/CR NPs initiate accurate targeting of cancer cells, triggering serious mitochondrial dysfunction and cellular apoptosis to amplify the photo-ablation activity, which provides a promising strategy for GC treatment, warranting further preclinical exploration.