Chitosan coated gold nanorod chelating gadolinium for MRI-visible photothermal therapy of cancer

The quick development of photothermal therapy (PTT) affords great opportunities for cancer therapy owing to its minimally invasive nature and controllable treatment method. A facile imaging guidance for the treatment will facilitate its clinical application potential. A type of multifunctional hybrid nanoparticles (h-NPs) has been developed by loading gold nanorods (GNRs) into gadolinium (Gd)-DTPA-conjugated chitosan (Gd-DTPA-CS). Then, the vesicular surface was coated with a PGA-g-mPEG layer via electrostatic adsorption, resulting in GNR/Gd-DTPA-CS@PEG NPs with uniform size distribution, high colloidal stability and bio-safety. In vivo magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of tumor bearing mice revealed tumor accumulation of h-NPs administered by intravenous (IV) injection. Under the guidance of MR imaging, the photothermal therapy achieved an effective tumor ablation. Thus, this study showed the potential of h-NPs as a potent photothermal agent for MRI-guided cancer treatment.