Gold nanorods/tetrahedral DNA composites for chemo-photothermal therapy

Combination therapy is extensively developed for cancer treatment in recent years due to its high efficiency.Herein,we constructed a nanocomposite based on gold nanorods(GNRs)and drug-loaded tetrahedral DNA nanostructures(TDN)for chemophotothermal combinational therapy.Anti-tumor drug doxorubicin(DOX)was loaded via the insertion within GC base pairs of TDN.The aptamer AS1411 was attached to the apex of TDN(ATDN)to target tumor cells.The DOX-loaded DNA tetrahedron(ATDN-DOX)was compressed by the GNRs coated with PEI(GNRs@ATDN-DOX)to realize the photothermal function and lysosome escape.GNRs under the illumination of 808nm infrared laser showed high photothermal conversion and stability due to the protection of PEI layer.The drug-loading capacity of ATDN-DOX was as high as 314 DOX molecules in per ATDN.The positive charge of PEI in GNRs@ATDN-DOX nanocomposites was utilized to achieve excellent cell penetration and induce proton sponge effect for lysosomal escape.The nanocomposites presented HeLa and 4T1 cells targeting and resulted in efficient anticancer activity.