ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nanotechnol.
Sec. Biomedical Nanotechnology
This article is part of the Research TopicNanodiagnostics for Human HealthView all articles
Triple-Modality Nanotheranostics for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: Porphyrin-Driven Photothermal-Chemo-Radiosensitization with MRI-Guided Precision
Provisionally accepted
- 1Chongqing University Cancer Hospital, Chongqing, China
- 2Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) poses significant therapeutic challenges due to its anatomical complexity, hypoxic/fibrotic microenvironment, and high recurrence rates post-chemoradiotherapy, necessitating multifunctional nanoplatforms that overcome resistance and enable precise image-guided therapy. To address this, we developed a multifunctional nanoplatform based on PVA-Ppa, which can be further functionalized through Gd3+ chelation for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and radiosensitization, and physically loaded with doxorubicin (DOX) for chemotherapy. Comprehensive characterization assessed physicochemical properties, DOX loading, photothermal efficiency, MRI contrast, and radiosensitization using CNE-2 cells line and CNE-2 xenograft mice. Results demonstrated uniform spherical nanoparticles (36.40 ± 14.67 nm) with high DOX loading capacity (73%) and sustained release. Photothermal irradiation (690 nm) induced rapid temperature rise (>30 °C, P<0.01) and ROS-mediated apoptosis. Gd-chelation significantly enhanced radiosensitization (sensitization enhancement ratio = 1.69) and radiation-induced apoptosis (40% vs. 17% control). Triple-combination therapy (PVA-Ppa-Gd-DOX + X-ray + laser) achieved complete tumor regression and significantly prolonged survival in vivo. Nanoparticles exhibited high T1 relaxivity (4.17 mM-1s-1 at 7T vs. 1.76 mM-1s-1 for Gd-DTPA), enabling prolonged tumor visualization and real-time therapeutic monitoring. This integrated PVA-Ppa-Gd nanoplatform presents a promising strategy for NPC theranostics, demonstrating potent efficacy in a preclinical model and showing potential to address the challenges of NPC treatment through MRI-guieded precision with synergistic triple-modality therapy. Its translation potential warrants further validation in more complex, orthotopic models.
Keywords: theranostic nanoparticles, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, triple-modality therapy, MRI-guided therapy, synergistic radiosensitization
Received: 21 Aug 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Yang, Xie, Huang, Long, Luo, Wang and Luo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yan Luo, yanluo2018@cqu.edu.cn
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.