Photothermal therapy (PTT) utilizes photo-absorbing plasmonic agents to generate heat from light, leading to subsequent tumor ablation. The main shortcomings of PTT are the side effect from inefficient heat conversion of probes and excessive laser irradiation which can cause inevitable skin damages and affect surrounding normal cells. Therefore, strong near infrared (NIR) light absorption by plasmonic probes, low-power laser irradiation, and low probe dose are critical for efficient and safe PTT. Here, nanobranches were grown on Au triangular nanoprisms (ATrism) to form bumpy Au triangular nanoprims (BATrism) for increasing surface area, improving cell penetration, shifting the absorption peak to NIR region and enhancing the PCE (~86%). Further, leucine (L)- and lysine (K)-rich cell penetrating peptides, namely LK peptides, were employed to improve cellular uptake efficiency (LK-BATrism). Significant <i>in vitro</i> therapeutic efficacy of LK-BATrism was demonstrated in MDA-MB-231, human breast cancer cells under laser irradiation of very low NIR laser power (808 nm, 0.25 W/cm<sup>2</sup>). Moreover, a very small dose of LK-BATrism (2.5 μg Au) induced significant reduction in tumor size in a triple-negative breast cancer xenograft mice model under very low laser power with minimal tissue damages. Overall, this study demonstrated LK-BATrism as a promising PTT agent that enables use of low laser power and low probe dose for realization of highly efficient and safe PTT.

Highly efficient photothermal therapy with cell-penetrating peptide-modified bumpy Au triangular nanoprisms using low laser power and low probe dose

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.