PEGylated WS2 nanodrug system with erythrocyte membrane coating for chemo/photothermal therapy of cervical cancer

Abstract

The side effects of chemical drugs and multi-drug resistance are serious obstacles hindering efficient tumor therapy. Therefore, recently, the combination of chemo/photothermal therapy (CT/PT) has been adopted to address these issues using a low drug dosage. However, the development of multi-functional drug delivery systems with improved immune escape capability and enhanced drug accumulation at specific tumor tissues is still in its infancy. Herein, polyethylene glycol (PEG)-modified WS₂ nanosheets (WS₂-PEG) were used as a nanocarrier scaffold for doxorubicin (DOX, D) loading and near-infrared fluorescence probe indocyanine green (ICG, I) doping. After surface modification with the erythrocyte membrane (M) and targeted folic acid (FA) molecule, a new biomimetic system (WID@M-FA NPs) with high biocompatibility, prolonged cycle time (3.6-fold longer than WID NPs) and remarkable near-infrared photothermal function was developed for a targeted cervical cancer therapy. The in vitro assay indicated that the photothermal effects caused by ICG upon laser irradiation not only enhanced the cellular uptake of the drug, but also enhanced its tumor cell killing efficiency. Moreover, the targeted accumulation of DOX at the cervical cancer tissue and the synergistic chemo/photothermal therapy finally resulted in tumor elimination to more than 95% without side effects to the normal tissues in vivo. Thus, these excellent preclinical results indicate that WID@M-FA NPs may be an efficient therapeutic modality for the treatment of cervical cancer.