Local and rapid heating by microwave (MW) irradiation is very significant for the clinical tumor hyperthermia. Herein, we firstly reported a new thermo-seed technique for highly efficient MW irradiation ablation of tumor in vivo based on gelatin microcapsules. 100% effect of tumor elimination in a mouse model is achieved at an ultralow power of 1.8 W, without noticing side effect after the treatment. The results of MTT assays, hemolysis test and histological staining organs indicate that gelatin microcapsules exhibit excellent compatibility in physiological environmental. A possible MW hyperthermia mechanism of the gelatin microcapsules has been proposed. Moreover, using CdTe quantum dots (QDs)-capped microcapsules for in vivo optical imaging is also demonstrated. Our study indicates that these microcapsules can be envisioned in simultaneous imaging-guided cancer therapeutic application.

Nanoscale, 2015