Photoacoustic imaging-guided chemo-photothermal combinational therapy based on emissive Pt(II) metallacycle-loaded biomimic melanin dots

Pt(II)-based metallacycles, as an important family of supramolecular coordination complexes (SCCs), have exhibited excellent antitumor activity at the cell level. However, the biomedical applications of Pt(II)-based metallacycles for animal studies are still hindered by their poor stability, non-targeted tumour, and lack of detectable feedback for evaluating therapeutic progress. Herein, we propose a strategy that introduces melanin dots as a biomedical platform to load bright-emission Pt(II)-based metallacycles, thereby constructing a theranostic agent that enables photoacoustic imaging (PAI)-guided chemo-photothermal combinational therapy. Melanin dots act as a protective carrier to preserve the integrity of Pt(II)-based metallacycles before uptake by tumour tissues. Meanwhile, the PAI signal from melanin dots furnishes more comprehensive information on the tumour. Moreover, the heat generated after NIR laser irradiation can not only trigger the apoptosis of tumour cells but also promote the deeper penetration of Pt(II)-based SCCs into tumour tissue, thus enhancing the efficiency of chemotherapy. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]