LAUSR

Abstract Designing a phototherapeutic material that simultaneously has target, tumor microenvironment (TME)-response, high-quality imaging and synergistic therapy has attracted much attention in anticancer field. Herein, a novel stimuli-responsive multifunctional nanoplatform has been constructed by inserting folic acid linked ZnPcG4 molecules (ZnPcG4-FA) into layered double hydroxides (LDH) by a facile co-precipitation method. Subsequently, chemotherapeutic drug (doxorubicin hydrochloride, DOX) was loaded on the surface of LDH (named as LDH_ZnPcG4-FA/DOX), which can be released in a controlled and targeted manner with the degradation of LDH in the acidic TME. Upon the 650 nm laser irradiation, this nanoplatform demonstrated excellent anticancer efficiency in vitro and in vivo due to the synergistic chemo-photodynamic therapy derived from the released DOX and ZnPcG4 photosensitizer (PS) . Interestingly, the luminescent ZnPcG4-FA in LDH_ZnPcG4-FA/DOX exhibited low fluorescence in a neutral environment, while recovered strong fluorescence with the degradation of LDH and release of DOX in acidic TME, implying its TME-responsive imaging property. Besides, in vivo fluorescence imaging of LDH_ZnPcG4-FA/DOX represent that the nanoplatform has higher selectivity to tumor cells than normal cells. This study contributes to design a kind of smart “all-in-one” nanoplatform to realize imaging guided synergistic therapy.