Mild Chemo-Photothermal Synergistic Therapy for Tumors Based on Gold-Nanoparticles Coupled with Metformin

The past decades have witnessed great achievements in the synergistic therapy for tumors, especially chemo-photothermal synergistic therapy. However, due to the high working temperatures (>50 °C) of photothermal therapy, the peripheral tissue nearby tumors usually get burned, which limits the further clinical application of chemo-photothermal synergistic therapy. Thus, a mild chemo-photothermal synergistic therapy for tumor is eagerly awaited. Herein, a chemo-photothermal synergistic tumor therapy working under mild temperatures (43 °C) based on gold nanoparticles coupled with metformin was developed. In the 4T1-tumor bearing mice model, the tumor inhibition rate reached 94.6%. The interaction coefficient of this nano-conjugates was 0.2, indicating a high synergistic effect between chemo- and photothermal therapy for tumors. Furthermore, pathological tests showed that the nano-conjugates prevent the tumor metastasis to the lung. Together with good targeting ability of tumor microenvironments and good biocompatibility, this work provides a potential drug candidate for the mild chemo-photothermal synergistic therapy for tumors.