Tumor-Targeting Multifunctional Rattle-Type Theranostic Nanoparticles for MRI/NIRF Bimodal Imaging and Delivery of Hydrophobic Drugs.

The development of theranostic systems capable of diagnosis, therapy, and target specificity is considerably significant for accomplishing personalized medicine. Here, a multifunctional rattle-type nanoparticle (MRTN) as an effective biological bimodal imaging and tumor-targeting delivery system is fabricated, and an enhanced loading ability of hydrophobic anticancer drug (paclitaxel) is also realized. The rattle structure with hydrophobic Fe3 O4 as the inner core and mesoporous silica as the shell is obtained by one-step templates removal process, and the size of interstitial hollow space can be easily adjusted. The Fe3 O4 core with hydrophobic poly(tert-butyl acrylate) (PTBA) chains on the surface is not only used as a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) agent, but contributes to improving hydrophobic drug loading amount. Transferrin (Tf) and a near-infrared fluorescent dye (Cy 7) are successfully modified on the surface of the nanorattle to increase the ability of near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging and tumor-targeting specificity. In vivo studies show the selective accumulation of MRTN in tumor tissues by Tf-receptor-mediated endocytosis. More importantly, paclitaxel-loaded MRTN shows sustained release character and higher cytotoxicity than the free paclitaxel. This theranostic nanoparticle as an effective MRI/NIRF bimodal imaging probe and drug delivery system shows great potential in cancer diagnosis and therapy.