A general strategy for dual-triggered combined tumor therapy based on template semi-graphitized mesoporous silica nanoparticles.

DOI: 10.1002/adhm.201300324 Treating cancer by combining the controllable chemotherapy and near-infrared light (NIR)-mediated photothermal therapy has now become a hot topic due to the potential such as overcoming or reducing multi-drug resistance, improving the anticancer therapeutic effect, and minimizing the invasive damage to normal tissues. [ 1 ] Many novel nanomaterials based on noble metal (e.g., gold nanoparticles, [ 2 ] Pd nanosheets, [ 3 ] and silver nanostructures) [ 4 ] with localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) or carbon nanomaterials (e.g., carbon nanotubes, [ 5 ] graphene, [ 6–8 ] and graphitic shell) [ 9 ] with NIR absorbance were developed for the chemo-photothermal combined therapy. However, in order to confi ne the LSPR absorbance of noble metal in the desirable NIR window for the deep-tissue pen etration and avoid the hydrophobicity of pristine carbon nanomaterials, as well as increase specifi c surface area for effi cient drug loading, labor-intensive preparations and complex modifi cations were needed. [ 10–12 ] Furthermore, in most of these chemo-photothermal nanoplatforms, the hotspots were often centralized in the modifi cators (core–shell structure) such as mesoporous silica. [ 13–15 ] This core–shell structure may depress the photothermal effect and the NIR-mediated drug release. As a widely used drug delivery vector, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) had been always pursued due to its fantastic properties such as high surface area, large pore volume with tunable pore size, and hydrophilicity. [ 16–18 ] Moreover, the rich silanol groups on MSN surface make it easy to combine with various functional triggers for controllable drug delivery. [ 19,20 ]