Mild hyperthermia-enhanced chemo-photothermal synergistic therapy using doxorubicin-loaded gold nanovesicles

We developed doxorubicin-loaded gold nanovesicles (DGVs), offering infrared thermal (IRT) and photoacoustic (PA) dual-modal imaging guided mild hyperthermia-enhanced chemo-photothermal cancer synergistic therapy. The DGVs are self-assembled by gold nanoparticles modified with amphiphilic copolymer in a predetermined concentration of doxorubicin through film rehydration method. Under the influence of laser excitation, the as-prepared DGVs exhibited good photothermal effect, which triggered the structural disruption of GVs and thus, allowed the efficient release of encapsulated DOX to enhance cell uptake for fluorescence imaging and tumor chemotherapy, respectively.