A Multifunctional PB@mSiO₂–PEG/DOX Nanoplatform for Combined Photothermal–Chemotherapy of Tumor

In this work, we design mesoporous silica-coated Prussian blue nanocubes with PEGyltation to construct multifunctional PB@mSiO2-PEG nanocubes. The PB@mSiO2-PEG nanocubes have good biocompatibility, excellent photothermal transformation capacity, in vivo magnetic resonance and photoacoustic imaging ability. After loading antitumor drug doxorubicin (DOX) in the PB@mSiO2-PEG nanocubes, the constructured PB@mSiO2-PEG/DOX nanoplatforms show an excellent pH-responsive drug release character within 48 h, namely, an ultralow cumulative drug release amount of 3.1% at pH 7.4 and a high release amount of 46.6% at pH 5.0. Upon near-infrared laser irradiation, the PB@mSiO2-PEG/DOX nanoplatforms show an enhanced synergistic photothermal and chemical therapeutic efficacy for breast cancer than solo photothermal therapy or chemotherapy.