Gold nanorod@void@polypyrrole yolk@shell nanostructures: Synchronous regulation of photothermal and drug delivery performance for synergistic cancer therapy

Synergistic therapy has been emerging as new trend for effective tumor treatment due to synchronous function and cooperative reinforcement of multi therapeutic modalities. Herein, gold nanorods (GNRs) encapsulated into polypyrrole (PPy) shell with tunable void space (GNRs@Void@PPy) showing yolk@shell nanostructures were innovatively designed. The exploitation of dual near-infrared (NIR) absorptive species offered synergistic enhancement of photothermal performance. In addition, the manipulation of the void space between them provided additional benefits of high drug encapsulation efficiency (92.6%) and, interestingly, tumor microenvironment and NIR irradiation triggered targeted drug releasing. Moreover, the GNRs@Void@PPy exhibited excellent biocompatibility, and optimal curative effect by chemophotothermal synergistic therapy was achieved through both in vitro and in vivo antitumor activity investigation. (c) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study introduces a new synergistic therapy approach using gold nanorods encapsulated in polypyrrole shell for tumor treatment. The structure utilizes dual near-infrared absorptive species to enhance photothermal performance synergistically, and provides high drug encapsulation efficiency and targeted drug release through void space manipulation.