Dual drug-paired polyprodrug nanotheranostics reverse multidrug resistant cancers via mild photothermal-cocktail chemotherapy

Abstract

Combating multidrug resistance (MDR) of tumors is still challenging for clinical chemotherapy, cocktail chemotherapy (CCT), and currently widely-studied nanodrug-based treatments. Inspired by different MDR-overcoming and antitumor mechanisms of CCT and photothermal therapy (PT), a dual drug-paired polyprodrug nanoparticle (PDCN₂₅-CDDP) was constructed to achieve the combination therapy PT–CCT for reversing MDR and combating multidrug resistant cancers. The PT–CCT treatment can greatly downregulate the P-gp expression level and achieve utmost MDR-reversal and antitumor efficacy by both a cocktail effect of CCT and a synergistic effect of CCT with PT; meanwhile, PT can inhibit the expression of heat shock protein 90 and enhance the thermosensitivity of cancer cells. Upon NIR irradiation, PDCN₂₅-CDDPin vivo produced a selective tumor accumulation effect and relatively deep tumor penetration, as evidenced by fluorescent and photoacoustic imaging and CLSM. The mild PT–CCT treatment completely eradicated MCF-7/ADR and OVCAR-3/DDP tumors without skin damage or tumor recurrence for 30 days, exhibiting synergistic MDR-reversal and superior antitumor efficacy in vivo. Importantly, this work provides an innovative strategy for reversing MDR and combating DOX-resistant breast and CDDP-resistant ovarian cancers.