•The Bac-PdNPs was prepared via a simple, green, facile and cheap method.•The synthetic mechanism of Bac-PdNPs was illuminated in detail.•The palladium nanoparticles were distributed on the surface of bacitracin uniformly.•The Bac-PdNPs possessed good stability and dispersity in KOH and C2H5OH solutions.•The composite possessed the large electrochemically active surface area.Palladium nanomaterials have attracted great attention on the development of electrocatalysts for fuel cells. Herein, we depicted a novel strategy in the synthesis of palladium nanoparticles with superior electrocatalytic activity. The new approach, based on the self-assembly of bacitracin biotemplate and palladium salt for the preparation of bacitracin-palladium nanoparticles (Bac-PdNPs), was simple, low-cost, and green. The complex, composed by a series of spherical Bac-PdNPs with a diameter of 70 nm, exhibited a chain-liked morphology in TEM and a face-centered cubic crystal structure in X-Ray diffraction and selected area electron diffraction. The palladium nanoparticles were mono-dispersed and stable in aqueous solution as shown in TEM and zeta potential. Most importantly, compared to the commercial palladium on carbon (Pd/C) catalyst (8.02 m2 g−1), the Bac-PdNPs showed a larger electrochemically active surface area (47.57 m2 g−1), which endowed the products an excellent electrocatalytic activity for ethanol oxidation in alkaline medium. The strategy in synthesis of Bac-PdNPs via biotemplate approach might light up new ideas in anode catalysts for direct ethanol fuel cells.

A novel synthesis approach is first developed to fabricate a multifunctional smart nanodrug delivery system: gold nanoshell-coated betulinic acid liposomes (AuNS-BA-Lips) mediated by a glutathione. The AuNS-BA-Lips exhibited good size distribution (149.4 ± 2.4 nm), preferable photothermal conversion ability and synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy. Additionally, the absorption wavelength of AuNS-BA-Lips showed a significantly red-shifted to near infrared (NIR) region, which can strongly absorbed NIR laser and efficiently convert it into localized heat, thus providing controlled drug release and antitumor thermotherapy. Moreover, the nanocarriers excited by NIR light significantly promoted cell uptake compared to those without irradiation, resulting in an enhanced intracellular drug accumulation. Upon NIR irradiation, the AuNS-BA-Lips showed highly efficient antitumor effects on tumor-bearing mice with an inhibition rate of 83.02%, thus demonstrating a remarkable synergistic therapeutic effect of chemotherapy and thermotherapy. Therefore, this work provides new insight into developing a multifunctional antitumor drug.Schematic illustration of the synthesis route for the AuNS-BA-Lips and the NIR laser irradiation-induced chemo-photothermal therapy in tumor-bearing mice.Download high-res image (224KB)Download full-size image

•A facile method to prepare biocompatible mimetic enzymes to maintain catalytic activity in complex medium was demonstrated.•The mimetic properties are ascribed to single compact zwitterionic layer composed by primary amine and carboxyl groups.•The single zwitterionic layer of mimetic enzymes significantly reduces the interaction between them and protein or cells.The dendrimer based synthetic mimetic enzyme has been drawing great attention. However, this mimetic enzyme is different from the natural enzymes, which are pH sensitive, biocompatible and keep their catalytic activity in biological complex medium. A single zwitterionic layer composed by primary amine and carboxyl groups may be a useful method to obtain these properties. Herein, we report a novel facile method to prepare a mimetic enzyme. The complexes of generation 5 poly(amido amine) dendrimers (G5 PAMAM) with free hemin (G5Hs) were modified by the maleic anhydride and cysteamine. Results showed that the mimetic enzymes (G5HMCs) had pH sensitivity and good stability by varying the pH from 4 to 9, while significant precipitation was observed for free hemin at pH 5 after two days. The G5HMC (3:1) showed optimal catalytic activity at its isoelectric point. Furthermore, G5HMCs displayed excellent biocompatibility. The G5HMCs incubated with fibrinogen were stable for 24 h, while G5Hs immediately formed large aggregates. G5HMC (3:1 2 mg/mL) displayed little cytotoxicity with HeLa cells or A549 cells for 24 h, while G5H (3:1) had serious cytotoxicity, which was also demonstrated by cell morphology observation. At last, G5HMCs fully preserved their catalytic activity in bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution compared with phosphate buffer saline (PBS) solution, while hemin decreased to 73.5–81.5% catalytic activity in BSA solution, which was caused by the less interaction with BSA for G5HMCs than free hemin. The surface functionalization schemes described in this report would represent a versatile method to prepare water-soluble, pH sensitive, biocompatible, and efficient artificial enzymes for biomedical related applications.Download high-res image (181KB)Download full-size image

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in fabricating noble metal nanoparticles using bio-templates for various biomedical applications, with the hope of finding a low cost method for their construction by a fairly simple and environmentally friendly synthetic strategy. In this study, novel self-assembled superstructures, namely, bacitracin–platinum nanoparticles (Bac–PtNPs), were designed and prepared under mild conditions. Bacitracin has two purposes: self-assembly to form a specific structure and the recognition of platinum nanoparticles, providing nucleation sites to form the nanomaterials. The spherical chain-like Bac–PtNPs were synthesized by the incubation of bacitracin and PtCl4 aqueous solutions at pH 2.0 for 24 h. The nanoparticles were face-centered cubic (fcc) crystalline, which were stable in aqueous solution. Functional groups such as –NH and –OH on the bacitracin surface serve as binding moieties and mediated the initial growth of the Pt nanoparticles. Anti-tumor effects exhibiting excellent therapeutic efficacy were confirmed both in vitro and in vivo. This study introduces a simple and effective platform for the design and preparation of the antitumor nanocomplexes, highlighting their potential applications in the biomedical field.

Gold nanostructures, particularly gold nanocages or nanoshells (AuNCs or AuNSs), exhibit remarkable optical properties due to their excellent surface plasmon resonance, allowing their potential use in biomedical fields. Herein, we report the controlled synthesis of AuNCs and AuNSs simply using lanreotide acetate (Lan) as a biotemplate. Gold nanomaterials were obtained via co-incubation between a HAuCl4 solution and Lan peptide and controlling the reduction reaction process. AuNCs and AuNSs prepared in this method were about 120 nm and 150 nm in diameter, respectively, which have the desired passive targeting to tumor. Surprisingly, both AuNCs and AuNSs showed superior photothermal inhibitory effects for cancer cells with only 0.8 W cm−2 laser power in the in vivo and vitro experiments; moreover, the AuNCs showed better antitumor activity and photothermal conversion efficiency than the AuNSs. In this study, two kinds of gold nanostructures were fabricated using the same template molecule, and AuNCs showed higher photothermal conversion efficiency due to their anisotropic structure.

Stimuli-responsive drug delivery and release have a great significance in cancer therapy. Herein, a multifunctional responsive drug carrier was designed and developed by loading resveratrol (Res) in chitosan (CTS) modified liposomes, and coated by gold nanoshells (GNS@CTS@Res-lips). The resultant GNS@CTS@Res-lips possess broad near-infrared (NIR) absorbance, high capability, stability, and also high photothermal conversion ability for efficient photothermal therapy (PTT) applications. In addition, the GNS@CTS@Res-lips exhibit the on-demand pH/photothermal-sensitive drug release, and a high loading capacity of Res. Under NIR laser irradiation, the drug delivery system could significantly enhance the cellular uptake of drugs. More importantly, compared to the single chemotherapy or PTT, the carriers with NIR irradiation displayed a higher therapeutic effect for HeLa cells. Therefore, the GNS@CTS@Res-lips with a combination of chemotherapy and PTT will show great potential for application in cancer therapy.

•The novel chitosan-coated ursolic acid liposomes (CS-UA-L) were successfully prepared.•CS-UA-L possessed sensitive pH-response, which could release UA rapidly at pH 5.0 comparing with pH 7.4.•CS-UA-L exhibited obvious anti-proliferative effect (76.46%) on HeLa cells than UA and UA-L.•CS-UA-L suppressed tumor growth more efficiently than those with UA and UA-L in mice bearing U14 cervical cancer.•The CS-UA-L allow for precision treatment of the tumor and potential to reduce the total drug dose and side-effect.There are tremendous challenges on antitumor and its therapeutic drugs, and preparation of highly efficient nano-vehicles represents one of the novel topics in antitumor pharmaceutical field. Herein, the novel chitosan-coated ursolic acid (UA) liposome (CS-UA-L) was efficiently prepared with highly tumor targeting, drug controlled release and low side-effect. The CS-UA-L was uniformly spherical particles with diameter of ~ 130 nm, and the size was more easily trapped into the tumor tissues. Chitosan modification can make liposomes carrying positive charges, which were inclined to combine with the negative charges on the surface of tumor cells, and then the CS-UA-L could release UA rapidly at pH 5.0 comparing with pH 7.4. Meanwhile, the CS-UA-L exhibited obvious anti-proliferative effect (76.46%) on HeLa cells and significantly antitumor activity (61.26%) in mice bearing U14 cervical cancer. The tumor tissues of CS-UA-L treated mice had enhanced cell apoptosis, extensive necrosis and low cell proliferation activity. These results demonstrated that the multifunctional CS-UA-L allowed a precision treatment for localized tumor, and reducing the total drug dose and side-effect, which hold a great promise in new safe and effective tumor therapy.Schematic diagram representing the principle of synthesis of CS-UA-L and pH-triggered sequential UA release after treatment on tumor bearing mouse.

•Betulinic acid (BA) was successfully incorporated into the lipid phase of liposomes.•The grafting of PEG to the surface of liposomes can substantially increase its stability.•PEGylated BA liposomes showed favorable slow release of BA over a prolonged period of time.•BA liposomes modified with PEG presented stronger rigidity.•The as-synthesized PEGylated BA liposomes presented significantly superior antitumor efficacy.Betulinic acid (BA), as a natural pentacyclic lupine-type triterpene, principally derives from bark of white birch, due to its potent pharmacological properties and low side-effect, which has been demonstrated a prominent efficiency on cancer therapy. However, the poor solubility and low bioavailability limit its pharmaceutical effect. Herein, we reported the rapid efficient synthesis of the polyethylene glycol modified (PEGylated) BA liposomes using ethanol injection technique for the first time. In the study, hydrophobic BA was encapsulated in the lipid bilayer of liposomes, meanwhile hydrophilic PEG layer covered the surface of liposomes. The mean diameter of PEGylated BA liposomes was 142 nm, which can effectively accumulate in the tumor tissues. In vitro drug release study showed that the PEGylated BA liposomes had a better sustained drug release effect than BA liposomes. The PEGylated BA liposomes also exhibited a better tumor inhibitory effect compared with those of free BA or BA liposomes in vitro and in vivo experiments. Therefore, the PEGylated BA liposomes could serve as a better alternative for the cancer therapy in future.Schematic illustration of the synthetic route to the PEGylated BA liposome and cancer therapy.

In the study, a new photoresponsive nano drug delivery system was developed by encapsulating indocyanine green into liposomes (ICG-liposomal wedelolactone), which could improve the water solubility and bioavailability of wedelolactone. The hyperthermia, produced by ICG under near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation, promoted wedelolactone release rapidly from the carriers. The release amount of ICG-liposomal wedelolactone under NIR irradiation reached up to 96.74% over 8 h, achieving the drug of on-demand release. Moreover, the growth of HepG2 cells was obviously inhibited by ICG-liposomal wedelolactone under NIR, and the early apoptotic rate of HepG2 cells was 33.74%. The tumor inhibition rate was 81% in the mice bearing tumor treated with the drug system. The results proved that ICG-liposomal wedelolactone, as a novel drug delivery system to co-delivery chemotherapeutic agents and photothermal agents, achieved synergetic effect of chemotherapy and photothermotherapy, which will have an enormous potential in future cancer therapy.Upon NIR irradiation, ICG-liposomal wedelolactone converts optical energy into heat, inducing the lipid phase transition of liposomes from the gel structure phase to the liquid crystalline phase, which promotes the drug release and inhibits tumor cells growth.

Therapy of solid tumors mediated by nano-drug delivery has attracted considerable interest. In our previous study, ursolic acid (UA) was successfully encapsulated into PEGylated liposomes. The study aimed to evaluate the tumor inhibition effect and cytotoxicity of the PEGylated UA liposomes by U14 cervical carcinoma-bearing mice. The liposomes were spherical particles with mean particle diameters of 127.2 nm. The tumor inhibition rate of PEGylated UA liposomes was 53.60 % on U14 cervical carcinoma-bearing mice, which was greater than those of the UA solution (18.25 %) and traditional UA liposome groups (40.75 %). The tumor cells apoptosis rate of PEGylated UA liposomes was 25.81 %, which was significantly higher than that of the traditional UA liposomes (13.37 %). Moreover, the kidney and liver did not emerge the pathological changes in UA therapeutic mice by histopathological analysis, while there were significant differences on tumor tissues among three UA formulation groups. The PEGylated UA liposomes exhibited higher anti-tumor activity and lower cytotoxicity, and the main reason was that the coating PEG layer improved UA liposome properties, such as enhancing the stability of liposomes, promoting the effect of slow release, and prolonging the time of blood circulation. This may shed light on the development of PEGylated nano-vehicles.

In this study, the self-assembly of platinum nanoshells (PtNSs) in facile conditions, using the adenovirus shuttle vector-GFP (Adv) as a biotemplate, was achieved. This novel and simple biotemplating method can be summarized as direct co-incubation of the template Adv and PtCl4 solution, followed by the reduction of the co-incubation solution using NaBH4. The prepared Adv–PtNSs were then characterized by TEM, XRD and FTIR. The TEM results indicated that Adv–PtNSs, with good morphologies and monodispersity, can be obtained by controlling the concentration of PtCl4 as 7.5 mM, and the obtained Adv–PtNSs were about 100 nm. The results of XRD and FITR demonstrated that the prepared Adv–PtNSs were in a face-centered cubic structure, and the combination between the Adv and platinum complex ions mainly depended on –NH groups. In addition, the biocompatibilities of the prepared Adv–PtNSs to H9c2 cells were investigated. MTT assay results showed that as-prepared Adv–PtNSs had relatively high biocompatibilities, and caused almost no harm to H9c2 cells. Therefore, Adv–PtNSs have great potential as bioelectrode materials for monitoring the states of organisms.

A novel biotemplating method for fabricating gold nanoshells (AuNSs) through direct co-incubation of AuCl3 solution and an adenovirus shuttle vector-GFP (Adv) template in water, followed by the reduction of the mixture using fresh NaBH4, has been investigated in this paper. For comparison, different adenovirus-templated gold nanoshells (Adv-AuNSs) were prepared by modifying Adv with chitosan or changing the ionic conditions of the reaction system. The morphology and structure of the prepared AuNSs were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The result indicated that Adv-AuNSs prepared by co-incubation of naked Adv and 7.5 mM AuCl3 solution had a uniform structure of approximately 120 nm diameter and face-centered cubic (fcc) crystal structure in the XRD pattern. A study of the biocompatibility of the prepared Adv-AuNSs demonstrated that there was no significant cytotoxicity. In addition, the photothermal therapy efficacy of the Adv-AuNSs on tumor cells was investigated in detail, revealing that all tumor cells could be killed when the power of near-infrared light irradiation was 4 W cm−2. Therefore, the prepared Adv-AuNSs will have very promising applications in the photothermal therapy of tumors.

Platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) were assembled in a chain-like structure by activating chemical groups of the octreotide acetate (AOC) template. Tumor-bearing mice were inoculated with cervical carcinoma cells, and then treated with a low dose of AOC-PtNPs (AOC-PtNPs-L), a high dose of AOC-PtNPs (AOC-PtNPs-H), sterile physiological saline and cyclophosphamide. The results suggested that tumor inhibition rates of cyclophosphamide, AOC-PtNPs-L and AOC-PtNPs-H were 87.0%, 38.3% and 42.5%; and the apoptosis rates of the tumor-bearing mice were 30.95%, 23.41% and 26.64%, respectively. More importantly, the histopathological study results implied that AOC-PtNPs had no toxicity or side-effects on liver and kidney tissues, but obvious inhibitory effects on tumors. In addition, MTT assay results showed that the as-prepared AOC-PtNPs had a higher inhibition rate on Hela cells than that of AOC or PtNPs alone. Therefore, AOC-PtNPs have great potential as anti-tumor drugs for cancer therapy in the future.

The purpose of this work was to prepare and study the anti-tumor effect of chitosan-coated oleanolic acid (OA) liposomes. The chitosan-coated OA liposomes had marked positive charges (19.9 ± 0.814 mV), which were inclined to combine with the negative charges on the surface of tumor cells, and then targeted and inhibited the growth of tumor cells. The average size of the chitosan-coated OA liposomes was around 167.44 nm, and this dimension was more easily trapped into the tumor tissue. The chitosan-coated OA liposomes possessed stronger rigidity and stability than those of ordinary liposomes, which can prevent the leakage of encapsulated drugs from liposomes. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) result indicated that chitosan already anchored the liposomes successfully. The chitosan-coated OA liposomes exhibited a slow, controlled OA release at pH 7.4, and a rapid release at pH 5.5 in vitro, which was beneficial for controlling tumor-targeting drug release. Additionally, MTT experimental results proved that the chitosan-coated OA liposomes can achieve more ideal anti-tumor effects than OA solution and OA liposomes. The study showed that chitosan modified liposomes not only solve the poor water solubility of OA, but also improve the anti-tumor efficacy, hence, it is a most promising drug carrier.

•The optimum formula for assembling of ursolic acid liposomes was determined.•The liposomes modified by PEG possessed higher trapping efficiency and better stability.•PEG-modified liposomes presented stronger rigidity and more perfect morphology.•PEG-modified liposomes maintained the effective therapeutic concentration for a long period of time.•The results showed that PEG-modified liposomes exhibited better antitumor activity.While ursolic acid (UA), one of the most broadly known triterpene compounds, has proved to be effective in cancer therapy, the applications of UA is limited due to its poor aqueous solubility and low bioavailability. The aim of our study was to prolong circulation time and enhance uptake of liposomes in tumor tissues through the modification of UA liposomes via water-soluble polyethylene glycol (PEG). In addition, this research also focuses on physicochemical properties of the liposome formulations, including encapsulation efficiency, particle morphology, size, stability, release rate in vitro and cytotoxicity test. The obtained liposomes were spherical particles with mean particle diameters around 100–200 nm. And the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) indicated that PEG had been anchored successfully to the liposomes. Based on our experimental data achieved, PEG-modified UA liposomes possessed higher stability than conventional liposomes, and the release rate of UA from PEG-modified liposomes was slower when compared with those of UA solution and conventional liposomes. Meanwhile, the liposomal UA showed relatively low cytotoxic effect than UA conventional liposomes within 24 h, which was consistent with their release rates.The higher encapsulation efficiency, appropriate size, long-circulating effect and stability made PEG-modified ursolic acid liposomes more superior, and laid the foundation for antitumor studies.

Malolactic fermentation (MLF), mainly carried out by lactic acid bacterium, is of immense importance in winemaking allowing for improvement of microbiological stability and organoleptic characteristics of wine. However, it is difficult to address the problems of decoloration and loss of taste along with MLF induced by traditional starter culture. To further the aim at realizing a controlled and efficient MLF process, mutant of Oenococcus oeni strains after ultraviolet irradiation was selected to enhance quality of MLF. The treated strains with a lethality rate of 80–90 % were preliminarily screened, and then were secondly screened by evaluating their sensory and fermentation properties, by which O. oeni C10-1 were successfully screened. The malolactic conversion rate of O. oeni C10-1 is up to 38.81 %, which is remarkably increased when compared to original strains. Pivotally, wine fermented by O. oeni C10-1 demonstrated the highest color density of 9.240 and got the score of 5.95 in softness index, suggesting a remission of decoloration phenomenon and improved mouth feeling of wine. In all, these make it highly valuable for industrial application.

The present study was undertaken to investigate antioxidant and hypolipidemic effects, as well as its molecular mechanism of wild Lactobacillus plantarum FC225 isolated from fermented cabbages. The scavenging activities of superoxide anion radical, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) and hydroxyl radical were enhanced by FC225 treatment. The strain FC225 also attenuated hyperlipidemic status, decreased lipid peroxidation, plasma cholesterol, triglyceride and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in high fat diet-fed mice. Meanwhile, FC225 therapy could significantly elevate the activities of superoxidase dismutase and glutathione peroxidase, and decrease the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in liver homogenates, whereas there was no change in catalase activity in high fat diet-fed mice. In addition, compared with the control group, FC225 markedly elevated the gene expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), which was in parallel with the increased value of CD4+/CD8+ ratio in the FC225-treated hyperlipidemic mice. The results demonstrated that the strain FC225 confers hypolipidemic and antioxidant protective effects which may be attributable to Nrf2 signal pathway mediated antioxidant enzyme expression.

BackgroundWe aimed to evaluate the effects of resuscitation with different ratios of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) to red blood cells (RBCs) on pulmonary inflammatory injury and to illuminate the beneficial effects of FFP on lung protection compared with lactated ringers (LR) using a rat model of hemorrhagic shock.MethodsRats underwent pressure-controlled hemorrhage for 60 minutes and were then transfused with LR for initial resuscitation. Thereafter, the rats were transfused with varying ratios of FFP:RBC (1:4, 1:2, 1:1, and 2:1) or LR:RBC (1:1) to hold their mean arterial pressure (MAP) at 100 ± 3 mm Hg for 30 minutes. After 4 hours of observation, lung tissue was harvested to determine the wet/dry weight, myeloperoxidase levels, tumor necrosis factor α levels, macrophage inflammatory protein 2 (MIP-2) levels, inducible nitric oxide synthase activity, and the nuclear factor κB p65 DNA-binding activity.ResultsWith an increase in the FFP:RBC ratio, the volume of required RBC to maintain the target MAP decreased. The MAP value in each group was not significantly different during the whole experiment period. The values of the wet/dry weights and MIP-2 were significantly lower in the FFP:RBC = 1:1 group than the other groups (P < .05). All parameters detected above were predominantly lower in the FFP:RBC = 1:1 group than the FFP:RBC = 1:2 group and the LR:RBC = 1:1 group (P < .05). In addition, all parameter values were lower in the FFP:RBC = 1:1 group than in the FFP:RBC = 2:1 group, but only the wet/dry weight, myeloperoxidase, and MIP-2 values were significantly different (P < .05).ConclusionsResuscitation with a 1:1 ratio of FFP to RBC results in decreased lung inflammation. Compared with LR, FFP could further mitigate lung inflammatory injury.

BackgroundSeveral kinds of crystalloid solutions have been used in the treatment of hemorrhagic shock (HS). Clinicians are faced with how to select the resuscitation fluids. The aim of the present study is to compare the effects of 3 crystalloid solutions, such as normal saline (NS), lactated Ringer's (LR), and Plasma-lyte A (PA), on acid-base status and intestine injury in rats subjected to HS.MethodsThirty Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups. The sham group had no blood withdrawal. The other groups were subjected to severe HS and then injected with NS, LR, or PA. All treatments were followed with an infusion of red blood cell suspension. The mean arterial pressure was monitored throughout the experiment. The arterial blood gas, malonaldehyde, and myeloperoxidase levels in the small intestine were assayed 120 minutes after resuscitation.ResultsPlasma-lyte A treatment could restore the pH, base excess (BE), HCO3−, Pao2, and Paco2. Comparing with sham group, NS failed to correct the decreased pH, BE, and HCO3− (P < .05), whereas LR treatment showed the decreased BE and HCO3− (P < .05) and increased Pao2 (P < .05). There were no significant differences in malonaldehyde among the 4 groups (P > .05). Both PA and LR were more effective than NS in decreasing the myeloperoxidase level in the small intestine (P < .01).ConclusionsAlthough the 3 crystalloid solutions play different roles, PA is better at correcting the acid-base balance and improving intestine injury during HS than NS and LR.

Stimuli-responsive drug delivery and release have a great significance in cancer therapy. Herein, a multifunctional responsive drug carrier was designed and developed by loading resveratrol (Res) in chitosan (CTS) modified liposomes, and coated by gold nanoshells (GNS@CTS@Res-lips). The resultant GNS@CTS@Res-lips possess broad near-infrared (NIR) absorbance, high capability, stability, and also high photothermal conversion ability for efficient photothermal therapy (PTT) applications. In addition, the GNS@CTS@Res-lips exhibit the on-demand pH/photothermal-sensitive drug release, and a high loading capacity of Res. Under NIR laser irradiation, the drug delivery system could significantly enhance the cellular uptake of drugs. More importantly, compared to the single chemotherapy or PTT, the carriers with NIR irradiation displayed a higher therapeutic effect for HeLa cells. Therefore, the GNS@CTS@Res-lips with a combination of chemotherapy and PTT will show great potential for application in cancer therapy.

Gold nanostructures, particularly gold nanocages or nanoshells (AuNCs or AuNSs), exhibit remarkable optical properties due to their excellent surface plasmon resonance, allowing their potential use in biomedical fields. Herein, we report the controlled synthesis of AuNCs and AuNSs simply using lanreotide acetate (Lan) as a biotemplate. Gold nanomaterials were obtained via co-incubation between a HAuCl4 solution and Lan peptide and controlling the reduction reaction process. AuNCs and AuNSs prepared in this method were about 120 nm and 150 nm in diameter, respectively, which have the desired passive targeting to tumor. Surprisingly, both AuNCs and AuNSs showed superior photothermal inhibitory effects for cancer cells with only 0.8 W cm−2 laser power in the in vivo and vitro experiments; moreover, the AuNCs showed better antitumor activity and photothermal conversion efficiency than the AuNSs. In this study, two kinds of gold nanostructures were fabricated using the same template molecule, and AuNCs showed higher photothermal conversion efficiency due to their anisotropic structure.