Background: Certain patients with triple-negative breast cancer cannot tolerate the serious adverse effects of cytotoxic chemotherapy agents, which significantly affect the disease prognosis.
Purpose: Research into the combined use of photosensitizers and non-cytotoxic antineoplastic drugs for the safe treatment of triple-negative breast cancer is vital.
Methods: In this study, the photosensitizer indocyanine green and the natural drug parthenolide were co-loaded into thermosensitive liposomes. Under a near-infrared irradiation, indocyanine green reached excitation levels, releasing heat, and the liposome underwent a phase transition, releasing the drug were researched.
Results: Thus, indocyanine green and parthenolide exert synergistic antineoplastic effects. In the nude mice xenograft MDA-MB-231 tumor model, the tumor inhibition rate of indocyanine green-parthenolide thermosensitive liposomes was approximately 2.08-fold than that of paclitaxel and demonstrated a good initial safety evaluation.
Conclusion: Photosensitizers and non-cytotoxic antineoplastic agents in combination with nanoscale carriers should be further investigated for the treatment of tumors.
Keywords: indocyanine green, parthenolide, thermosensitive liposomes, triple-negative breast cancer, chemo-photothermal synergetic therapy