In Vivo Targeted Cancer Theranostics by Core/Shell-Structured Multifunctional Prussian Blue/PLGA "Nanococktails"

The construction of high-performance nanotheranostic agent with Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved materials for efficient treatment of breast cancer is still of great challenge. This work reports, for the first time, on the elaborate integration of two FDA-approved materials together to construct a multifunctional core/shell-structured "nanococktail" for cancer theranostics. The biocompatible Prussian blue nanoparticles with high photothermal-conversion performance are coated by poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) followed by further surface targeting engineering (folic acid conjugation). The anticancer drug paclitaxel is concurrently encapsulated into the nanocarrier with high efficiency and capacity. Especially, these "nanococktails" act as the desirable contrast agents for photoacoustic/magnetic resonance imaging dual-mode diagnostic imaging, providing the potential for guidance and monitoring during the therapeutic process, which has been systematically demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo. Importantly, these "nanococktails" have demonstrated their high performance in synergistic in vivo photothermal therapy and chemotherapy against breast cancer tumor xenograft. This work not only provides a high-performance theranostic "nanococktail" platform for efficient theranostic treatment of cancer but also paves a new way for the integration of various functional moieties together for realizing the specific diagnostic imaging-guided and synergistic cancer therapy.