Near‐Infrared Responsive PEGylated Gold Nanorod and Doxorubicin Loaded Dissolvable Hyaluronic Acid Microneedles for Human Epidermoid Cancer Therapy

Currently, epidermoid cancer is one of the most common malignancies among Caucasians. Traditional treatment may yield uncomfortable side effects for the patient. In order to solve these problems, the authors develop a near‐infrared (NIR) responsive PEGylated gold nanorod (GNR‐PEG) and doxorubicin (DOX) loaded dissolvable hyaluronic acid (HA) microneedle (GNR‐PEG&DOX@HA MN) for human epidermoid cancer therapy. The as‐made GNR‐PEG&DOX@HA MNs has good skin penetration capability and heating ability. The heating can be transferred to the center of the tumor sites and the temperature is shown to rise up to 60 °C within 5 min. Meanwhile, the release behavior of the DOX from GNR‐PEG&DOX@HA MNs can be controlled by NIR light. The GNR‐PEG&DOX@HA MNs shows good cell inhibition, and the photothermal effect is shown to completely destroy A431 cells in vitro. For in vivo antitumor study, the group treated with GNR‐PEG&DOX@HA MNs transcutaneously reveals a remarkable antitumor efficacy, such that all mice are cured without recurrence under only one treatment. Hence, this novel transdermal drug delivery strategy offers hope to human epidermoid cancer therapy, and GNR‐PEG&DOX@HA MN may serve as a promising candidate in clinical translation for human epidermoid cancer therapy.