Cypate‐Conjugated Porous Upconversion Nanocomposites for Programmed Delivery of Heat Shock Protein 70 Small Interfering RNA for Gene Silencing and Photothermal Ablation

Abstract

Synergistic therapy is an accepted method of enhancing the efficacy of cancer therapies. In this study, cypate‐conjugated porous NaLuF 4 doped with Yb 3+ , Er 3+ , and Gd 3+ is synthesized and its potential for upconversion luminescence/magnetic resonance dual‐modality molecular imaging for guiding oncotherapy is tested. Loading cypate‐conjugated upconversion nanoparticles (UCNP‐cy) with small interfering RNA gene against heat shock protein 70 (UCNP‐cy‐siRNA) enhances the cell damage. UCNP‐cy‐siRNA exhibits remarkable antitumor efficacy in vivo as a result of the synergistic effects of gene silencing and photothermal therapy, with low drug dose and minimal side effects. This result thus provides an explicit strategy for developing next‐generation multifunctional nanoplatforms for multimodal imaging‐guided synergistic oncotherapy.