Synergistic PDT/PTT/chemotherapy of PEGylated cyanine/methotrexate hybrid nanoparticles IMPD

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) was introduced into cyanine IR8 and methotrexate (MTX) to synthesize compounds IR8PEG and MTXPEG, respectively. IR8PEG and MTXPEG self-assembled in aqueous solution and encapsulated chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin (DOX) to form PEGylated cyanine/methotrexate hybrid nanoparticles IMPD. The effects of photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy and chemotherapy of IMPD were studied. We found that the drug loading and entrapment efficiency of IMPD for DOX were 8.91% and 53.52%, respectively. IMPD can effectively generate ROS, its photothermal conversion efficiency was 47.3%. In cell experiments, it was found that IMPD absorbed by cells effectively, and IMPD could realize the continuous release of DOX. In the cell therapy experiments, IMPD showed good synergistic effects of photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy and chemotherapy. This provides a new strategy and idea for the follow-up study of nano drugs.