Introduction: It will be challenging to develop high-performance organic chromophores for light-triggered thermal ablation of the tumor. Besides, the mechanisms of organic chromophores for tumor therapy remain unclear. Herein, an acceptor-π-donor (A-π-D) structured organic chromophore based on 2-dicyanomethylenethiazole named PTM was developed for photothermal therapy (PTT) of tumors.
Methods and results: Biocompatible PTM nanoparticles (PTM NPs) were fabricated by enclosing PTM with Pluronic F-127. The results of optical and photothermal properties of PTM NPs showed robust near-infrared (NIR) absorption, excellent photostability and high photothermal conversion efficiency (56.9%). The results of flow cytometry, fluorescence microscopy, apoptosis, CCK-8 assays and animal experiments showed that PTM NPs had a good killing effect on tumors under NIR laser irradiation. Furthermore, mechanistic studies, RNA-seq and biological analysis revealed that PTM NPs can cause tumor cell death via DNA damage-mediated apoptosis.
Conclusion: Light-induced thermal ablation effects of PTM NPs in vitro and vivo were surveyed. Collectively, our studies provided a new approach to developing a safe and effective photothermal agent for cancer treatment.
Keywords: 2-dicyanomethylenethiazole; DNA damage induced apoptosis; NIR absorbing chromophore; RNA-seq; biological analysis; photothermal therapy.
© 2021 Zhang et al.