Injectable hydrogel for NIR-II photo-thermal tumor therapy and dihydroartemisinin-mediated chemodynamic therapy
Abstract
In traditional Chinese medicine, dihydroartemisinin (DHA) is the focus of extensive attention because of its unique activity with Fe2+ to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) and promote apoptosis. In this work, we designed a newfangled ink@hydrogel containing FeCl3, traditional Chinese ink (Hu Kaiwen ink), and agarose hydrogel to create a synergistic activity with DHA in the treatment of cancer. When the system is irradiated under 1064 nm for a few minutes, the ink in the ink@hydrogel converts the light to heat and hyperthermia causes the reversible hydrolysis of hydrogel. Then, Fe3+ quickly diffuses from the hydrogel to the tumor microenvironment and is reduced to Fe2+ to break the endoperoxide bridge in pre-injected DHA, which results in the release of free radicals for a potent anticancer action. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a hydrogel tumor therapy system that induces a photo-thermal response in the second near infrared window (NIR-II). In vivo experiments also showed a significant effect of DHA-Fe2+ in chemodynamic therapy (CDT) and in photo-thermal therapy. This hydrogel platform provided an encouraging idea for synergistic tumor therapy.
- Publication:
-
Frontiers in Chemistry
- Pub Date:
- April 2020
- DOI:
- 10.3389/fchem.2020.00251
- Bibcode:
- 2020FrCh....8..251C
- Keywords:
-
- Injectable hydrogel;
- NIR-II photothemal therapy;
- Dihydroartemisinin;
- Hu Kaiwen ink;
- chemodynamic therapy