Supra-Carbon Dots Formed by Fe3+-Driven Assembly for Enhanced Tumor-Specific Photo-Mediated and Chemodynamic Synergistic Therapy

Abstract

We herein report a facile method to fabricate a multifunctional cancer theranostic nanoplatform via Fe3+-driven assembly of photosensitizer (chlorine e6, Ce6)-decorated red emissive carbon dots (Ce6-RCDs). The as-prepared Supra-CDs (i.e., CD clusters; also termed as Fe-Ce6-RCDs) are found to not only retain the intrinsic photosensitization, fluorescence (FL), and photothermal properties of the Ce6-RCDs component but also be endowed with the chemodynamic therapy (CDT) function by the introduced Fe3+ via the Fenton reaction that can specifically occur in tumor sites. The suitable size (∼36 nm) of the Supra-CDs enables enhanced tumor accumulation, thus achieving significantly improved FL imaging-guided anticancer performance by combining photodynamic, photothermal, and chemodynamic therapeutic modalities. More interestingly, the multi-subcellular structure (including nucleolus and cytoplasm)-targeting capacity of the Supra-CDs further enhances their therapeutic outcomes. This work not only develops a Fe3+-mediated self-assembly approach to construct a multifunctional cancer theranostic nanoplatform but also emphasizes the ion-interference role of the Fe3+-mediated CDT in anticancer nanomedicines.