Self-Assembled Fe³⁺-Baicalin Nanoparticles for Combined Photothermal and Chemodynamic Therapy

Abstract

The combination of photothermal and chemodynamic therapy (PTT/CDT) has promising anticancer effect. Nonetheless, the large-scale preparation of multifunctional nanotherapeutics with good water-solubility and biocompatibility using simple methods remains a major challenge. Herein, we prepared multifunctional nanoparticles ( Fe–Ba NPs ) by combining Fe 3+ with baicalin via a simple coordination assisted self-assembly method, as the carbonyl and phenolic hydroxyl groups in baicalin have strong coordination interaction with Fe 3+ . The obtained NPs exhibit a broad absorption spectrum extending to near-infrared region and have an excellent photothermal conversion efficiency of 91.1 %. In addition, glutathione (GSH), which is highly expressed in tumor, can reduce Fe 3+ in Fe–Ba NPs to Fe 2+ . On the one hand, Fe 2+ can further react with H 2 O 2 to generate hydroxy radical, resulting in CDT. Conversely, depletion of GSH in tumors can disrupt redox homeostasis and upregulate CDT-mediated oxidative damage, leading to enhanced CDT effect. By integrating PTT and CDT, Fe–Ba NPs can greatly improve the therapeutic efficacy. This research introduces a strategy for the design and synthesis of multifunctional nanotherapeutic reagents.