Near-Infrared Responsive Doxorubicin Loaded Hollow Mesoporous Prussian Blue Nanoparticles Combined with Dissolvable Hyaluronic Acid Microneedle System for Human Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Therapy

Abstract

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most common cancers in developing countries particularly in those aged over 50. Traditional treatment is with surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of these which often results in considerable discomfort to the patient. Here we describe a potential alternative which employs a near-infrared (NIR) responsive dissolvable microneedle system (HMPBs&DOX@HA MNs) made of hyaluronic acid (HA) with hollow mesoporous Prussian blue nanoparticles (HMPBs) loaded with doxorubicin (DOX). HMPBs&DOX@HA MNs can easily penetrate the skin, and shows the ability to heat and maintain the internal temperature of tumor tissue at more than 60 C under the irradiation of an NIR laser. Besides, the DOX release behavior can also be regulated by the NIR laser. HMPBs&DOX@HA MNs reveals not only strong cell inhibition in vitro, but also prominent antitumor efficacy in vivo with all tumor-bearing mice cured in just one treatment and with no recurrence. This innovative transdermal drug delivery system minimizes the side effects while eliminating tumors. It has great potential to be an effective clinical treatment of OSCC.