A mitochondrial-metabolism-regulatable carrier-free nanodrug to amplify the sensitivity of photothermal therapy.

The oxidative phosphorylation inhibitor atovaquone (ATO) and the photosensitizer new indocyanine green (IR820) were self-assembled into carrier-free nanodrugs (IR820/ATO NPs) to achieve superior photothermal therapy (PTT), offering an attractive mitochondrial metabolism-regulatable approach for breast cancer treatment, where adenosine triphosphate (ATP) was downregulated along with downregulating the expression of heat shock proteins (HSPs) to amplify the sensitivity of PTT.