Photosensitizer anchored gold nanorods for targeted combinational photothermal and photodynamic therapy

Silylated zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) was anchored onto silica-coated gold nanorods (AuNR) with retained local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). Independent LSPR and singlet oxygen production of anchored ZnPc enhance the photothermal and photodynamic efficacy of the obtained AuNR-Si-ZnPc under NIR light excitation. AuNR-Si-ZnPc was further grafted with hyaluronic acid (HA). Since HA has selective targeting capability to CD44 antigens, the final hybrid could target cancer cells directly for synergistic photothermal and photodynamic therapy.