In clinical
cancer research,
photothermal therapy is one of the most effective ways to increase sensitivity to
chemotherapy. Here, we present a simple and effective method for developing a nanotherapeutic agent for
chemotherapy combined with
photothermal therapy. The nanotherapeutic agent mesoporous
polydopamine-Fe(III)-
doxorubicin-
hyaluronic acid (
MPDA-Fe(III)-DOX-HA) was composed of mesoporous
polydopamine modified by ferric
ions and loaded with the anticancer
drug doxorubicin (DOX), as well as an outer layer coating of
hyaluronic acid. The pore size of the mesoporous
polydopamine was larger than that of the common
polydopamine nanoparticles, and the particle size of
MPDA-Fe(III)-DOX-HA nanoparticles was 179 ± 19 nm. With the presence of ferric
ions, the heat generation effect of the
MPDA-Fe(III)-DOX-HA nanoparticles in the near-infrared light at 808 nm was enhanced. In addition, the experimental findings revealed that the active targeting of
hyaluronic acid to
tumor cells mitigated the toxicity of DOX on normal cells. Furthermore, under 808 nm illumination, the
MPDA-Fe(III)-DOX-HA nanoparticles demonstrated potent cytotoxicity to HCT-116 cells, indicating a good anti-
tumor effect in vitro. Therefore, the system developed in this work merits further investigation as a potential nanotherapeutic platform for photothermal treatment of
cancer.