Combined photothermal–photodynamic therapy by indocyanine green loaded polydopamine nanoparticles enhances anti-mammary gland tumor efficacy

Abstract

Various nano-targeted drug delivery systems have been developed for combined photothermal-photodynamic (PTT-PDT) treatment of tumors due to better outcomes compared with monomodality therapy. Here, we constructed a facile two-step method without core templates to obtain indocyanine green (ICG) loaded-hyaluronic acid (HA) surface-coated polydopamine nanoparticles (IIPH). The prepared nanoparticles demonstrated an excellent photothermal conversion capacity and efficient singlet oxygen production. Both <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i> studies proved that IIPH could significantly inhibit the growth of tumor by PTT-PDT combinational treatment. All the results indicated that IIPH NPs hold great potential to be utilized as a new photothermal-photodynamic composite for cancer treatment.