Issue 40, 2022

Ultrasmall zirconium carbide nanodots for synergistic photothermal-radiotherapy of glioma

Abstract

Glioma is characterized by highly invasive, progressive, and lethal features. In addition, conventional treatments have been poorly effective in treating glioma. To overcome this challenge, synergistic therapies combining radiotherapy (RT) with photothermal therapy (PTT) have been proposed and extensively explored as a highly feasible cancer treatment strategy. Herein, ultrasmall zirconium carbide (ZrC) nanodots were successfully synthesized with high near-infrared absorption and strong photon attenuation for synergistic PTT–RT of glioma. ZrC–PVP nanodots with an average size of approximately 4.36 nm were prepared by the liquid exfoliation method and modified with the surfactant polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), with a satisfactory absorption and photothermal conversion efficiency (53.4%) in the near-infrared region. Furthermore, ZrC–PVP nanodots can also act as radiosensitizers to kill residual tumor cells after mild PTT due to their excellent photon attenuating ability, thus achieving a significant synergistic therapeutic effect by combining RT and PTT. Most importantly, both in vitro and in vivo experimental results further validate the high biosafety of ZrC–PVP NDs at the injected dose. This work systematically evaluates the feasibility of ZrC–PVP NDs for glioma treatment and provides evidence of the application of zirconium-based nanomaterials in photothermal radiotherapy.

Graphical abstract: Ultrasmall zirconium carbide nanodots for synergistic photothermal-radiotherapy of glioma

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
01 Aug. 2022
Accepted
07 Sept. 2022
First published
13 Sept. 2022

Nanoscale, 2022,14, 14935-14949

Ultrasmall zirconium carbide nanodots for synergistic photothermal-radiotherapy of glioma

M. Yin, X. Chen, Q. Guo, L. Xiao, P. Gao, D. Zang, J. Dong, Z. Zha, X. Dai and X. Wang, Nanoscale, 2022, 14, 14935 DOI: 10.1039/D2NR04239H

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