Mesoporous Polydopamine Nanobowls Toward Combined Chemo‐ and Photothermal Cancer Therapy

To enhance therapeutic efficacy and reduce side effects in cancer treatment, multimodal therapies are increasingly desired. In particular, combined chemo‐ and photothermal therapy has been developed as an approach with significantly higher therapeutic efficacy. However, long‐term cytotoxicity arising particularly from poor biodegradability of the nanoparticles typically used for such treatment remains a challenge. In the present in vitro study, a new approach targeted toward cancer treatment that combines chemo‐ and photothermal therapy using bio‐derived polydopamine (PDA) bowl‐shaped mesoporous nanoparticles with exceptional biocompatibility is indicated. The potential of PDA mesoporous nanobowls as a new chemo‐ and photothermal agent was explored by loading the anti‐cancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) into nanobowls and investigating their photothermal performance upon near‐infrared (NIR) illumination. Strikingly, DOX loaded nanobowls show significantly higher pharmaceutical cytotoxicity to HeLa cells in vitro in comparison with free DOX due to their preferential uptake into cells. Following this with photothermal treatment resulted in nearly 100% cell death from the combined treatment of DOX loaded nanobowls and NIR illumination. This first step highlights the potential of PDA mesoporous nanobowls as a scaffold for combined chemo‐ and photothermal therapy for cancer treatment that offers new opportunities for combined physicochemical therapies to treat advanced disease states.