Non-covalently Functionalized Carbon Nanotube by Hyaluronic Acid Based Azo Polymer for Photothermal Elimination of Tumor Cells

He-Ting Li; Wen-Long Zhang; Ya-Ning He

doi:10.1007/s10118-025-3393-8

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Non-covalently Functionalized Carbon Nanotube by Hyaluronic Acid Based Azo Polymer for Photothermal Elimination of Tumor Cells

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2025-09-26

- Non-covalently Functionalized Carbon Nanotube by Hyaluronic Acid Based Azo Polymer for Photothermal Elimination of Tumor Cells
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 43, Issue 10, Pages: 1785-1791(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  Department of Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials (MOE), Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
- Author bio：
  
  heyaning@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-025-3393-8
  CLC：
- Received：16 April 2025，
  
  Revised：2025-05-26，
  
  Accepted：05 June 2025，
  
  Online First：01 August 2025，
  
  Published：05 October 2025
- Accepted：
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Li, H. T.; Zhang, W. L.; He, Y. N. Non-covalently functionalized carbon nanotube by hyaluronic acid based azo polymer for photothermal elimination of tumor cells. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2025, 43, 1785–1791

He-Ting Li, Wen-Long Zhang, Ya-Ning He. Non-covalently Functionalized Carbon Nanotube by Hyaluronic Acid Based Azo Polymer for Photothermal Elimination of Tumor Cells[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2025, 43(10): 1785-1791.
Li, H. T.; Zhang, W. L.; He, Y. N. Non-covalently functionalized carbon nanotube by hyaluronic acid based azo polymer for photothermal elimination of tumor cells. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2025, 43, 1785–1791 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3393-8.

He-Ting Li, Wen-Long Zhang, Ya-Ning He. Non-covalently Functionalized Carbon Nanotube by Hyaluronic Acid Based Azo Polymer for Photothermal Elimination of Tumor Cells[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2025, 43(10): 1785-1791. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3393-8.

摘要

This work reports the non-covalent functionalization of carbon nanotubes by hyaluronic acid-based azo polymer (HA-MWCNT) and its application in the photothermal elimination of tumor cells. Based on the interaction between hyaluronic acid and CD44 receptors and the photothermal effect of carbon nanotube

HA-MWCNTs manifested great elimination effect on tumor cells.

Abstract

Photothermal therapy has been renowned for its non-invasive and highly precise approach in cancer treatment. Therefore

the synthesis of suitable photothermal agent has attracted wide attention. In this study

a non-covalent method for modifying carbon nanotube by hyaluronic acid based azo polymer was proposed. Hyaluronic acid based azo polymer was attached to the surface of carbon nanotube

via

the

interaction and hydrophobic interaction between azo moiety and the wall of carbon nanotube. After the self-assembly process

the modification was demonstrated with transmission electron microscopy

infrared spectra and thermal gravimetric analysis. The modified carbon nanotube (HA-MWCNT) was endowed with both the tumor cell targeting property of hyaluronic acid and the excellent photothermal effect of carbon nanotube

enabling it to serve as photothermal agent for eliminating tumor cells. Upon co-culture with HeLa cells

HA-MWCNT was proved to exhibit low cytotoxicity without irradiation. After being irradiated with infrared laser light

the HeLa cells cultured with HA-MWCNT perished due to the heat generated by the endocytosed HA-MWCNT

which attested to the potential of HA-MWCNT as a photothermal agent for cancer treatment.

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references

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