Cypate-Conjugated Porous Upconversion Nanocomposites for Programmed Delivery of Heat Shock Protein 70 Small Interfering RNA for Gene Silencing and Photothermal Ablation

• Published in: Advanced functional materials Vol. 26; no. 20; pp. 3480 - 3489
• Main Authors: Wang, Lu, Gao, Chang, Liu, Keyin, Liu, Yuxin, Ma, Liyi, Liu, Lidong, Du, Xiaoxia, Zhou, Jing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 24-05-2016
• Subjects: cancer therapy; gene silencing; HSP70; photothermal therapy; siRNA; upconversion nanoparticles
• ISSN: 1616-301X; 1616-3028
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201600035

Synergistic therapy is an accepted method of enhancing the efficacy of cancer therapies. In this study, cypate‐conjugated porous NaLuF4 doped with Yb3+, Er3+, and Gd3+ is synthesized and its potential for upconversion luminescence/magnetic resonance dual‐modality molecular imaging for guiding oncotherapy is tested. Loading cypate‐conjugated upconversion nanoparticles (UCNP‐cy) with small interfering RNA gene against heat shock protein 70 (UCNP‐cy‐siRNA) enhances the cell damage. UCNP‐cy‐siRNA exhibits remarkable antitumor efficacy in vivo as a result of the synergistic effects of gene silencing and photothermal therapy, with low drug dose and minimal side effects. This result thus provides an explicit strategy for developing next‐generation multifunctional nanoplatforms for multimodal imaging‐guided synergistic oncotherapy.
A porous upconverting nanoparticle (UCNP‐cy‐siRNA) conjugated with photothermal conversion materials (cypate) and loaded with small interfering RNA (siRNA) against heat shock protein 70 (HSP70‐siRNA) is demonstrated as a first example of upconversion luminescence and magnetic resonance imaging‐guided therapy, thereby efficiently inhibiting the tumor by synergistic gene silencing and photothermal therapy.