There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
Repeated cancer treatments are common, owing to the aggressive and resistant nature
of tumors. This work presents a chitosan (CS) derivative that contains self-doped
polyaniline (PANI) side chains, capable of self-assembling to form micelles and then
transforming into hydrogels driven by a local change in pH. Analysis results of small-angle
X-ray scattering indicate that the sol-gel transition of this CS derivative may provide
the mechanical integrity to maintain its spatial stability in the microenvironment
of solid tumors. The micelles formed in the CS hydrogel function as nanoscaled heating
sources upon exposure to near-infrared light, thereby enabling the selective killing
of cancer cells in a light-treated area. Additionally, photothermal efficacy of the
micellar hydrogel is evaluated using a tumor-bearing mouse model; hollow gold nanospheres
(HGNs) are used for comparison. Given the ability of the micellar hydrogel to provide
spatial stability within a solid tumor, which prevents its leakage from the injection
site, the therapeutic efficacy of this hydrogel, as a photothermal therapeutic agent
for repeated treatments, exceeds that of nanosized HGNs. Results of this study demonstrate
that this in situ-formed micellar hydrogel is a highly promising modality for repeated
cancer treatments, providing a clinically viable, minimally invasive phototherapeutic
option for therapeutic treatment.