A pH reversibly activatable NIR photothermal/photodynamic-in-one agent integrated with renewable nanoimplants for image-guided precision phototherapy

• Published in: Chemical science (Cambridge) Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 442 - 452
• Main Authors: Zhao, Xu, Zhao, Kai-Chao, Chen, Li-Jian, Liu, Yu-Shi, Liu, Jia-Lin, Yan, Xiu-Ping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: CAMBRIDGE Royal Soc Chemistry 31.10.2020; Royal Society of Chemistry; The Royal Society of Chemistry
• Subjects: Anticancer properties; Biotin; Blood circulation; Bromination; Chemical compounds; Chemistry; Chemistry, Multidisciplinary; Image enhancement; Infrared imagery; Light therapy; Mass spectra; Nanoparticles; Near infrared radiation; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Pharmacology; Physical Sciences; Polyethylene glycol; Radiation damage; Science & Technology; Tumors; PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY; INDOCYANINE GREEN; PERSISTENT LUMINESCENCE NANOPARTICLES
• DOI: 10.1039/d0sc04408c
• ISSN: 2041-6520

Phototherapy has great potential to revolutionize conventional therapeutic modalities. However, most phototherapeutic strategies based on multicomponent therapeutic agents generally lack tumor-specificity, resulting in asynchronous therapy and superimposed side-effects. Severe heat damage is also inevitable because of the necessity of continuous external irradiation. Here we show the design of an acid-activated and continuous external irradiation-free photothermal and photodynamic (PTT/PDT) synchronous theranostic nanoplatform for precision tumor-targeting near-infrared (NIR) image-guided therapy. pH-reversibly responsive brominated asymmetric cyanine is designed as the tumor-specific NIR PTT/PDT-in-one agent to enhance anticancer efficiency and reduce side-effects. Ultra-small NIR persistent luminescence nanoparticles are prepared as both the imaging unit and renewable nanoimplant. Biotin functionalized polyethylene glycol is introduced to endow active tumor-targeting ability and prolong blood-circulation. The developed smart platform offers merits of reversible activation, PTT/PDT synergetic enhancement, tumor targetability and continuous external irradiation-free properties, allowing autofluorescence-free image-guided phototherapy only in tumor sites. This work paves the way to developing smart theranostic nanoplatforms for precision medicine. A smart NIR photothermal/photodynamic-in-one agent integrated with renewable nanoimplants for autofluorescence- and continuous external irradiation-free image-guided precision tumor-targeting phototherapy.