Biodegradable hollow mesoporous organosilica nanotheranostics (HMONs) as a versatile platform for multimodal imaging and phototherapeutic-triggered endolysosomal disruption in ovarian cancer

A major impediment in the development of nanoplatform-based ovarian cancer therapy is endo/lysosome entrapment. To solve this dilemma, a hollow mesoporous organosilica-based nanoplatform (HMON@CuS/Gd₂O₃) with a mild-temperature photothermal therapeutic effect and multimodal imaging abilities was successfully synthesized. HMON@CuS/Gd₂O₃ exhibited an appropriate size distribution, L-glutathione (GSH)-responsive degradable properties, and high singlet oxygen generation characteristics. In this study, the nanoplatform specifically entered SKOV-3 cells and was entrapped in endo/lysosomes. With a mild near infrared (NIR) power density (.5 W/cm²), the HMON@CuS/Gd₂O₃ nanoplatform caused lysosome vacuolation, disrupted the lysosomal membrane integrity, and exerted antitumour effects in ovarian cancer. Additionally, our <i>in vivo</i> experiments indicated that HMON@CuS/Gd₂O₃ has enhanced T1 MR imaging, fluorescence (FL) imaging (wrapping fluorescent agent), and infrared thermal (IRT) imaging capacities. Using FL/MRI/IRT imaging, HMON@CuS/Gd₂O₃ selectively caused mild phototherapy in the cancer region, efficiently inhibiting the growth of ovarian cancer without systemic toxicity <i>in vivo</i>. Taken together, the results showed that these well-synthesized nanoplatforms are likely promising anticancer agents to treat ovarian cancer and show great potential for biomedical applications.