Acid‐sensitive ROS‐triggered dextran‐based drug delivery system for advanced chemo‐photodynamic synergistic therapy

Abstract In order to improve the treatment efficacy and reduce the side effects, the synergistic therapy has been effectively exploited in cancer treatment. Herein, we fabricated a kind of acid‐sensitive ROS‐triggered dextran‐based drug delivery system (DHTD/Zn‐TPP) for synergistic therapy, in which chemotherapeutics doxorubicin was conjugated to the dextran backbone via ROS cleavable thioketal conjugates while photosensitizer porphyrin (Zn‐TPP) was encapsulated via acid‐responsive metallic coordinated interaction. The structure and acid‐responsive self‐assemble behavior of DHTD/Zn‐TPP were measured by ¹H NMR, Fourier transform infrared, dynamic laser scattering, and transmission electron microscopy. Further, the in vivo ROS‐triggered DOX release and anticancer efficiency were evaluated toward HeLa cells and MCF‐7 cells. All the data obtained verified that DHTD/Zn‐TPP had a significantly improved cell growth inhibitory effect with light irritation due to the combined application of photodynamic‐chemotherapy.