Designable NIR-II light triggered biocompatible Au NRs for highly efficient photothermal therapy of cervical cancer

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요약

RSC Adv., 2026, 16,25705-25716DOI: 10.1039/D5RA10095J, Paper Open Access &nbsp This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence.Jiabao Xiong, Hairegu Tuxun, Jiayi Ding, Biao Dong, Nuernisha AlifuSeed-mediated NI…

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Designable NIR-II light triggered biocompatible Au NRs for highly efficient photothermal therapy of cervical cancer

* Corresponding authors

a State Key Laboratory of Pathogenesis, Prevention and Treatment of High Incidence Diseases in Central Asia/School of Medical Engineering and Technology, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830054, China
E-mail: [email protected]

b The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830054, China

c Institute of Medical Engineering Interdisciplinary Research, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, China

d School of Public Health, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830054, China

e College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Gold nanorods (Au NRs) hold great potential for photothermal therapy (PTT) of cervical cancer, but their clinical application is hindered by suboptimal absorbance in the second near-infrared (900–1700 nm, NIR-II) spectral window, synthetic heterogeneity, and cytotoxic surfactant residues. To overcome these limitations, we combined computational design with experimental synthesis and developed novel type of NIR-II-optimized Au NRs. Finite-difference time-domain simulations predicted that Au NRs exhibited 88 nm of length and 13 nm of diameter with a strong localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peak at 1058 nm, enabling deep tissue penetration in the NIR-II spectral region. Experimentally, we synthesized highly uniform Au NRs@PEG nanoparticles (NPs) via a seed-growth method, achieving a 1026 nm absorption peak while replacing toxic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) with biocompatible polyethylene glycol (SH-PEG-5000). The Au NRs@PEG demonstrated exceptional photothermal conversion efficiency of 60.89%, excellent tumor accumulation, and minimal systemic toxicity. In vivo studies confirm effective tumor suppression of 93.5% under NIR-II light excitation, with the stability for repeated treatment cycles. In this work, we introduce a versatile paradigm for designing high-performance, clinically viable photothermal agents by means of rational optical engineering and surface modification.