In recent years, several near-infrared light absorbing inorganic nanomaterials
have been developed for photothermal therapy. However, their biological fate
after injection limits their clinical utilization. In this work, we developed
a novel polymeric near-infrared light absorbing material based on a
biocompatible thermoresponsive nanogel that is semi-interpenetrated with
polyaniline, a conjugated polymer with strong near-infrared absorbance. This
polymeric nanocomposite generates heat after being irradiated by NIR light,
thereby inducing a local hyperthermia that is used for photothermal cancer
therapy in vitro and in vivo
