Boron-based nanosheets for combined cancer photothermal and photodynamic therapy

Tumor phototherapy was of great significance for the expansion and breakthrough of cancer treatment methods. Herein, two-dimensional boron nanosheets (B NSs) with the thickness of 2.4 nm exhibiting excellent photothermal conversion performance was developed by a simple liquid phase ultrasonic stripping method. Following loading of a photosensitizer agent chlorine e6 (Ce6) and subsequent modification with poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), a B@Ce6-PAH-PAA NSs nanomedicine exhibiting dual modal imaging-guided cancer photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) properties, as well as outstanding stability was developed. Proper nano-size (120 nm) of B@Ce6-PAH-PAA NSs allowed drugs to target tumor tissue with enhanced permeability and retention effect (EPR). Drugs cytotoxicity experiments demonstrated that B@Ce6-PAH-PAA NSs performed good biocompatibility even at high concentration. As a result, the in vitro and in vivo experiments showed an excellent synergistic therapeutic effect of PTT and PDT.