Tailoring dual drug-backboned polyurethane prodrug nanoparticles as all-in-one nanomedicine for precise multimodal imaging-guided PTT-chemotherapy

Abstract

The combination of chemotherapy with photothermal therapy (PTT) based on all-in-one nanotheranostics has great potential to enhance the accuracy of diagnosis, realize real-time tracking of nanodrugs, and enhance the efficacy of anticancer treatment. To increase the drug loading capacity and reduce the carrier-induced toxicity, polyprodrugs have drawn tremendous attention as anticancer nanomedicines. Herein, we developed innovative polyurethane prodrug nanoparticles (denoted as PUCPt NPs) for multimodal imaging guided combined PTT and chemotherapy. A platinum(IV) prodrug (DHP) and a cyanine dye (HOCyOH) were simply copolymerized and embedded in the main chain of polyurethane PUCPt. The self-assembled PUCPt NPs enable reduction-triggered chain-shattering of the polyprodrug and bioactive Pt(II) release in tumor cells; meanwhile, photothermal conversion was realized under 808 nm light irradiation. Moreover, this simple nanoplatform can achieve near-infrared fluorescence (NIR), photothermal, photoacoustic (PA) and computed tomography (CT) multimodal imaging guided PTT-chemotherapy. The synergistic anticancer effect of the PTT and activated Pt(II) drug in PUCPt NPs was also studied in vitro and in vivo. The light and reduction-activatable PUCPt NPs system presents tremendous potential as a multifunctional all-in-one nanotheranostic.