AUTHOR=Wu Mingzhou , He Shuqing , Hu Xin , Chen Jingqin , Ha Enna , Ai Fujin , Ji Tao , Hu Junqing , Ruan Shuangchen 

TITLE=A Near-Infrared Light Triggered Composite Nanoplatform for Synergetic Therapy and Multimodal Tumor Imaging

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2021.695511

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2021.695511

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=<p>Transition-metal chalcogenide compounds with facile preparation and multifunctional elements act as ideal photothermal agents for cancer theranostics. This work synthesizes Cu<sub>7.2</sub>S<sub>4</sub>/5MoS<sub>2</sub> composite nanoflowers and investigates the crystal growth mechanism to optimize the synthesis strategy and obtain excellent photothermal therapy agents. Cu<sub>7.2</sub>S<sub>4</sub>/5MoS<sub>2</sub> exhibits a high photothermal conversion efficiency of 58.7% and acts as a theranostic nanoplatform and demonstrated an effective photothermal–chemodynamic–photodynamic synergetic therapeutic effect in both <italic>in vitro</italic> and <italic>in vivo</italic> tests. Moreover, Cu<sub>7.2</sub>S<sub>4</sub>/5MoS<sub>2</sub> shows strong photoacoustic signal amplitudes and computed tomographic contrast enhancement <italic>in vivo</italic>. These results suggest a potential application of Cu<sub>7.2</sub>S<sub>4</sub>/5MoS<sub>2</sub> composite nanoflowers as photo/H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>-responsive therapeutic agents against tumors.</p>