Theranostic Nanoplatform with Hydrogen Sulfide Activatable NIR Responsiveness for Imaging-Guided On-Demand Drug Release

NIR light responsive nanoplatforms hold great promise for on-demand drug release in precision cancer medicine. However, currently available systems utilize always-on photothermal transducers that lack target specificity, and thus inaccurately differentiate tumors from normal tissues. Developed here is a theranostic nanoplatform featuring H2S-mediated in situ production of NIR photothermal agents for imaging-guided and photocontrolled drug release. The system targets H2S-rich cancers. This nanoplatform shows H2S-activatable NIR-II emission and NIR light controllable release of the drug Camptothecin-11. Upon administering the system to HCT116 tumor-bearing mice, the tumor is greatly suppressed with minimal side effects, arising from the synergy of the cancer-specific and NIR light activated therapy. This theranostic nanoplatform thus sheds light on precision medicine with guidance through NIR-II imaging.