Metal Ion/Tannic Acid Assembly as a Versatile Photothermal Platform in Engineering Multimodal Nanotheranostics for Advanced Applications

TLDR

MITAs differ from existing photothermal agents by offering green synthesis, easy incorporation of diagnostic metal ions, and topology‑independent adhesion. This study reports a family of photothermal materials, metal ion/tannic acid assemblies (MITAs). By self‑adhesion, MITAs can be deposited onto various templates—polymeric, inorganic, or nanovesicle—to create FeIII‑tannic acid constructs that can be further doped or loaded with imaging agents, forming versatile multimodal platforms. FeIII, VIII, and RuIII‑based MITAs achieve ~40% photothermal efficiency, and FeIIITA‑supported nanovesicles enable complete tumor ablation with simultaneous photothermal, photoacoustic, T1‑ and T2‑MRI, and NIR fluorescence imaging, establishing MISTA as a superior multimodal theranostic platform.

Abstract

This study reports a family of photothermal materials, metal ion/tannic acid assemblies (MITAs). MITAs from FeIII, VIII, and RuIII afford excellent photothermal efficiency (η ≈ 40%). Sharply differing from the currently existing photothermal agents, MITAs are highlighted by merits including green synthesis, facile incorporation of diagnostic metal ions, and particularly topology-independent adhesion. Owing to the adhesion nature of MITAs, various kinds of MITA-based nanoengineerings are readily available via the self-adhesion of MITAs onto diverse templates, enabling MITAs well suited as a photothermal platform for versatile combination with other therapy approaches and imaging techniques. As a proof of concept, polymeric/inorganic nanoparticle/nanovesicle-supported FeIII-tannic acid (FeIIITA) is fabricated. The photothermal effect is shown to be unaffected by the template origin and type and FeIIITA thickness on the templates. We validate the potency of nanovesicle-supported FeIIITA (PNV@FeIIITA) for tumor-specific photoactivated utilizations, including NIR photothermal therapy with complete tumor elimination, photothermal imaging (PTI), and photoacoustic imaging (PAI) in addition to T1-MRI imaging. PNV@FeIIITA can be simultaneously equipped with functionalities, including T2-MRI imaging by additionally doping MnII and NIR fluorescence imaging by encapsulating a hydrophilic NIR fluoroprobe. MISTA demonstrates unparalleled superiority as a photothermal platform in engineering multimodal theranostics for advanced applications.