Targeted Recruitment and Degradation of Estrogen Receptor alpha by Photothermal Polydopamine Nanoparticles for Breast Tumor Ablation

The major challenges of photothermal therapy (PTT) toward clinical application are the severe skin injury and inflammation response associated with high power laser irradiation. Herein, polydopamine nanoparticles (PDA-EST and PDA-RAL) targeted to estrogen receptor alpha (ER alpha) for efficient ablation of breast tumor under a low irradiation density of 0.1 W cm(-2) are reported. These nanoparticles are capable of recruiting ER alpha on their surface and induce a complete ER alpha degradation via localized heat. Owing to the ER alpha targetability, PDA-EST and PDA-RAL strongly suppress the proliferation of breast cancer cells without causing significant inflammation. This work provides a generalized method for enhancing PTT efficacy under low irradiation density.