Prevention of Local Tumor Recurrence After Surgery by Thermosensitive Gel-Based Chemophotothermal Therapy in Mice.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Local recurrence of cancer after surgery has long been a tough problem. In the present study, thermosensitive gel-based chemophotothermal therapy was applied to prevent the recurrence of liver cancer after surgery. STUDY DESIGN/MATERIALS AND METHODS: Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) were used as first-level carrier to co-load doxorubicin (DOX) and ICG. Then, the drug-loaded MSNs (D-I@MSN) were incorporated into poloxamer gel. A mimic model of liver cancer recurrence after surgery was prepared by subcutaneously injecting H22 cells into the armpit of mice. Then the two-level composite gel (D-I@MSN/gel) was also subcutaneously injected at the same site before the formation of tumor, followed by 808 nm laser irradiation. RESULTS: The loading efficiency and entrapment efficiency of DOX were as high as 8.85% and 96.9%, and that of ICG were 9.24% and 99.3%, respectively. The results of in vitro cytotoxicity showed that cell viability in D-I@MSN+Laser group was only 5.8% after being irradiated by 808 nm laser for 5 minutes (0.5 W/cm2 ). In animal studies, tumor formation (tumor recurrence) was greatly inhibited in D-I@MSN+Laser group. CONCLUSIONS: The thermosensitive gel-based chemophotothermal therapy showed excellent safety and efficacy when applied in the prevention of mimic local tumor replase after surgery in mice, presenting its great potential clinically. Lasers Surg. Med. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.