On-Demand Drug Release from Gold Nanoturf for a Thermo- and Chemotherapeutic Esophageal Stent

Stimuli-responsive delivery systems for cancer therapy have been increasingly used to promote the on-demand therapeutic efficacy of anticancer drugs and, in some cases, simultaneously generate heat in response to a stimulus, resulting in hyperthermia. However, their application is still limited due to the systemic drawbacks of intravenous delivery, such as rapid clearance from the bloodstream and the repeat injections required for sustained safe dosage, which can cause overdosing. Here, we propose a gold (Au)-coated nanoturf structure as an implantable therapeutic interface for near-infrared (NIR)-mediated on-demand hyperthermia chemotherapy. The Au nanoturf possessed long-lasting doxorubicin (DOX) duration, which helps facilitate drug release in a sustained and prolonged manner. Moreover, the Au-coated nanoturf provides reproducible hyperthermia induced by localized surface plasmon resonances under NIR irradiation. Simultaneously, the NIR-mediated temperature increase can promote on-demand drug release at desired time points. For in vivo analysis, the Au nanoturf structure was applied on an esophageal stent, which needs sustained anticancer treatment to prevent tumor recurrence on the implanted surface. This thermo- and chemo-esophageal stent induced significant cancer cell death with released drug and hyperthermia. These phenomena were also confirmed by theoretical analysis. The proposed strategy provides a solution to achieve enhanced thermo-/chemotherapy and has broad applications in sustained cancer treatments.