Figure 4.

Tumor therapy using cooperative nanosystem. a) Relative tumor volume in different treatment groups (n = ~5–7 mice per trace) for MDA-MB-435 human melanoma tumors. Mice bearing bilateral MDA-MB-435 tumors were injected with GNRs (10 mg Au kg⁻¹). After 72 h, a single dose of the indicated saline, free DOX, or various therapeutic nanoparticle formulations (3 mg DOX kg⁻¹) was administered through tail vein injection and one tumor was irradiated with a NIR laser (810 nm, ~0.75 W cm⁻²) for 30 min, while maintaining an average tumor surface temperature of ~45 °C (monitored by IR thermographic surveillance). Tumor volumes were quantified every 3 d post-irradiation. The differences between TSL plus irradiation and all other groups were significant (*P <0.05 for 12 and 15 days and **P <0.02 for 18 and 21 days) in the tumor volume change curves. b) Representative images of treated tumors in the live animals for the indicated treatments (21 days post-treatment). Scale bar indicates 1 cm. c) Mouse mass as a function of days post-treatment for the indicated treatment groups. L+ and L− indicate animals whose tumors received NIR irradiation, or no irradiation, respectively, 72 h after GNR injection. Normal growth of all groups is observed for 3 weeks post-treatment. TSL, TSM, and NSL are the different nanoparticle formulations, defined in Figure 2.