Hierarchical drug release designed Au @PDA-PEG-MTX NPs for targeted delivery to breast cancer with combined photothermal-chemotherapy

Breast cancer (BC) is the most frequently diagnosed cancer with a low survival rate and one of the major causes of cancer-related death. Methotrexate (MTX) is an anti-tumor drug used in the treatment of BC. Poor dispersion in water and toxic side effects limit its clinical application. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), owing to their specific structures and unique biological and physiochemical properties, have emerged as potential vehicles for tumor targeting, bioimaging and cancer therapy. An innovative nano drug-loading system (Au @PDA-PEG-MTX NPs) was prepared for targeted treatment of BC. Au @PDA-PEG-MTX NPs under near infra-red region (NIR) irradiation showed effective photothermal therapy against MDA-MB-231 human BC cells growth in vitro by inducing apoptosis through triggering reactive oxygen species (ROS) overproduction and generating excessive heat. In vivo studies revealed deep penetration ability of Au @PDA-PEG-MTX NPs under NIR irradiation to find application in cancer-targeted fluorescence imaging, and exhibited effective photothermal therapy against BC xenograft growth by inducing apoptosis. Histopathological analysis, cellular uptake, cytotoxicity assay, and apoptosis experiments indicated that Au @PDA-PEG-MTX NPs possessed a good therapeutic effect with high biocompatibility and fewer side effects. This Au NPs drug-loading system achieved specific targeting of MTX to BC cells by surface functionalisation, fluorescence imaging under laser irradiation, combined photothermal-chemotherapy, and pH- and NIR- triggered hierarchical drug release. [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12951-021-00883-8.