Fluorescence imaging-guided multifunctional liposomes for tumor-specific phototherapy for laryngeal carcinoma.

Reliable diagnosis and efficient targeted therapy are important and may lead to the effective treatment of laryngeal carcinoma. Multifunctional nano-theranostic agents demonstrate great potential in tumor theranostic applications. Thus, herein, we report novel targeting multifunctional theranostic nanoparticles, internalized RGD (iRGD)-modified indocyanine green (ICG) encapsulated liposomes (iLIP(ICG)), for imaging-guided photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) for the treatment of laryngeal carcinoma. The iRGD-PEG-DSPE lipid endowed iLIP(ICG)with high affinity for tumor vascular targeting, tumor-penetration and tumor cell targeting. Thein vivoresults showed that iLIP(ICG)exhibited excellent blood circulation and tumor accumulation. iLIP(ICG)could be spatially and temporally controlled, simultaneously producing hyperthermia and reactive oxygen species as well as a fluorescence-guided effect through ICG to ablate laryngeal carcinoma cells under irradiation from an 808 nm laser. iLIP(ICG)generated synergistic photodynamic-photothermal cytotoxicity against Hep-2 cells, resulting in the efficient ablation of laryngeal carcinoma. Thus, the iLIP(ICG)system provides a promising strategy to improve the precision imaging and effective phototherapy for the treatment of laryngeal carcinoma.