Smart nanoplatform for sequential drug release and enhanced chemo-thermal effect of dual drug loaded gold nanorod vesicles for cancer therapy

Background The combination of multiple chemotherapeutics has been used in the clinic for enhanced cancer chemotherapy, however, frequent relapse, chemo-resistance and side effects remains therapeutic hurdles. Thus, the development of co-delivery system with enhanced targeting and synergistic different modal treatments has been proposed as promising strategies for intensive improvement of the therapeutic outcomes. Results We fabricated a nanocarrier based on gold nanorods (Au NRs), cRGD peptide-modified and multi-stimuli-responsive paclitaxel (PTX) and curcumin (CUR) release for synergistic anticancer effect and chemo-photothermal therapy (PTX/CUR/Au NRs@cRGD). The specific banding of cRGD to αvβ3 integrin receptor on the tumor cell surfaces facilitated the endocytosis of PTX/CUR/Au NRs@cRGD, and the near-infrared ray (NIR) further enhanced the drug release and chemotherapeutical efficiency. Compared to single drug, single model treatment or undecorated-PTX/CUR/Au NRs, the PTX/CUR/Au NRs@cRGD with a mild NIR showed significantly enhanced apoptosis and S phase arrest in three cancer cell lines in vitro, and improved drug accumulation in tumor sites as well as tumor growth inhibition in vivo. Conclusions The tumor targeted chemo-photothermal therapy with the synergistic effect of dual drugs provided a versatile strategy for precise cancer therapy. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12951-019-0473-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.