The application of hyaluronic acid-derivatized carbon nanotubes in hematoporphyrin monomethyl ether-based photodynamic therapy for in vivo and in vitro cancer treatment

Jinjin Shi,* Rourou Ma,* Lei Wang, Jing Zhang, Ruiyuan Liu, Lulu Li, Yan Liu, Lin Hou, Xiaoyuan Yu, Jun Gao, Zhenzhong Zhang

School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, People's Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Abstract: Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have shown great potential in both photothermal therapy and drug delivery. In this study, a CNT derivative, hyaluronic acid-derivatized CNTs (HA-CNTs) with high aqueous solubility, neutral pH, and tumor-targeting activity, were synthesized and characterized, and then a new photodynamic therapy agent, hematoporphyrin monomethyl ether (HMME), was adsorbed onto the functionalized CNTs to develop HMME-HA-CNTs. Tumor growth inhibition was investigated both in vivo and in vitro by a combination of photothermal therapy and photodynamic therapy using HMME-HA-CNTs. The ability of HMME-HA-CNT nanoparticles to combine local specific photodynamic therapy with external near-infrared photothermal therapy significantly improved the therapeutic efficacy of cancer treatment. Compared with photodynamic therapy or photothermal therapy alone, the combined treatment demonstrated a synergistic effect, resulting in higher therapeutic efficacy without obvious toxic effects to normal organs. Overall, it was demonstrated that HMME-HA-CNTs could be successfully applied to photodynamic therapy and photothermal therapy simultaneously in future tumor therapy.

Keywords: photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, HA-derivatized carbon nanotubes, tumor targeting, synergistic effect, hematoporphyrin monomethyl ether