聚合物纳米光诊疗剂的制备与应用新进展

共轭聚合物纳米颗粒是由π-共轭有机聚合物组成的尺寸在1~100nm范围内的新型有机纳米材料。与传统的有机小分子、半导体量子点和无机纳米材料相比,聚合物纳米颗粒具有光学性质特殊、结构多样、表面易修饰和生物相容性好等优点,因而被广泛应用于生物成像、传感与检测、载药和治疗等领域。本文主要围绕聚合物纳米颗粒的制备方法、性质结构和生物相容性等方面,重点介绍了聚合物纳米颗粒作为光诊疗剂在荧光成像、光声成像,以及光动力和光热治疗领域的研究进展,并对聚合物纳米颗粒的发展前景和未来面临的挑战进行了探讨。     

基于透明质酸构筑的药物递送载体及其应用

传统纳米药物控释载体主要通过细胞胞吞作用实现药物递送,其主要过程为被动靶向机制,因此会影响纳米载体在肿瘤组织的富集和治疗效果。近年来生物大分子透明质酸因其优异的水溶性、生物相容性、可降解性和肿瘤靶向性备受科研工作者青睐,已被广泛用于药物控释载体的构筑中,并成为靶向肿瘤治疗纳米载体领域的研究热点。本文根据透明质酸基纳米载体治疗机制的不同,从透明质酸基纳米载体在化疗、光热治疗、光动力治疗以及联合治疗的应用方面对其性能进行了总结和评述,并在此基础上展望了未来透明质酸基纳米治疗载体的研究方向和发展趋势。     

硫代部花菁类染料生物成像及诊疗的研究进展

硫代部花菁是氮杂环阳离子和末端氨基、 羟基或烷氧基通过π共轭桥连在一起的一类荧光染料, 具有优异的光学性质和生物相容性, 其近红外发射优势以及光敏特性使以硫代部花菁为骨架的荧光探针和诊疗试剂在荧光/光声成像和肿瘤治疗方面发挥着重要作用. 本文综合评述了基于硫代部花菁构建的荧光探针和诊疗分子在识别各种生命或环境分析物以及光基疗法中的研究及应用, 讨论了该领域面临的问题, 并对未来的发展趋势进行了展望.     

近红外荧光染料的结构、性质及生物荧光成像应用

近红外荧光生物成像技术由于具有深的组织穿透性、低背景荧光干扰、最小生物样本光损伤等特点引起人们越来越多的关注。开发高荧光效率、低毒性的近红外荧光染料是近红外荧光成像技术发展的关键所在。本文综述了五类主要的有机近红外荧光染料(菁类、BODIPY类、罗丹明类、方酸类、卟啉类)的研究进展,重点分析其结构与光学性质等构效关系,为近红外荧光染料的设计和制备提供指导。另外,总结了有机近红外荧光材料功能化修饰的主要方法以改善生物相容性、靶向性能等,最后对近红外荧光染料存在的主要问题以及未来的热点方向进行了分析和展望。     

HA-AuNPs/FDF用于透明质酸酶的高灵敏检测、肿瘤靶向细胞荧光成像和光疗

本工作构建了一种新型复合纳米诊疗剂HA-AuNPs/FDF,用于透明质酸酶(HAase)的高灵敏荧光检测、肿瘤靶向荧光成像和光动力/光热协同治疗.吡咯并吡咯二酮基共轭小分子(FDF)与肿瘤靶向生物分子透明质酸(HA)功能化的金纳米粒子(HA-AuNPs)通过静电作用自组装形成HA-Au NPs/FDF. FDF在近红外光激发下产生较强的荧光, HA-AuNPs会通过荧光共振能量转移效应(FRET)猝灭FDF的荧光.然而,肿瘤细胞中过表达的透明质酸酶(HAase)能使HA逐渐降解, FDF被释放,从而荧光逐渐恢复. HA-AuNPs/FDF的荧光恢复程度与HAase的浓度有很好的线性关系,可用于快速定量检测HAase.而且, HA-AuNPs/FDF作为透明质酸酶激活的荧光探针成功地用于人宫颈癌肿瘤HeLa细胞的靶向荧光成像,细胞实验结果证实它能通过光动力/光热协同治疗有效抑制HeLa细胞的增殖.该体系为实现精准高效的肿瘤诊疗拓展了思路.     

磁性脂质体的制备及在肿瘤诊断与靶向治疗中的应用进展

磁性脂质体是近年来发展起来的新型靶向制剂,能在外加磁场作用下大量滞留在靶部位.由于磁性脂质体具有良好的生物相容性、无毒、易生物降解,因而被广泛用于肿瘤诊断与靶向治疗等领域.本文作者综述了磁性脂质体的制备方法及其在肿瘤诊断与靶向治疗中的应用进展.     

聚集诱导发光分子在光动力治疗中的研究进展

光动力治疗(PDT)已成为治疗癌症的重要方法之一。传统光敏剂由于存在选择性差、易光漂白等问题,极大地限制了其在临床上的应用。而具有聚集诱导发光特性的荧光分子(AIEgens),在光照条件下能产生活性氧,并能够将肿瘤细胞杀死,具有治疗癌症的功效。此外,AIEgens还具有易制备、荧光特性优异、生物相容性好以及被动靶向效应(EPR效应)等优点,已被广泛应用于光动力治疗领域,并取得了巨大的发展,具有潜在的医学应用价值。该文主要概括并讨论了近5年来AIEgens在光动力治疗中的研究进展,并进行了展望。     

多光谱光声层析成像及其在生物医学中的应用

多光谱光声层析成像(MSOT)技术是一种将多光谱成像与光声层析成像(PACT)技术相结合的新技术,该技术利用不同生物组织的光谱吸收特性,用多组不同波长的短脉冲激光照射组织以产生组织特异性的光声信号,从而更好地进行光声成像和组分识别。MSOT兼具光学成像的高灵敏度、高分辨率优势和超声成像可对数厘米深组织成像的长处,同时又能弥补光学成像深度有限和超声成像对比度差的短处,能够实现深层组织的高分辨率、高对比度、高穿透深度的实时无损伤成像。迄今为止,MSOT已应用于肿瘤内光吸收粒子的检测、血管结构和血液氧合作用的评价、生物荧光蛋白的成像以及乳腺癌患者检测的初步研究。随着光声成像系统的不断改进,MSOT与生物标记物(如荧光试剂、金纳米颗粒等)结合对体内分子进行成像,在生物医学中得到了广泛的应用。本文简要综述了MOST的成像原理、实验装置及其性能特点,着重总结了其在生物医学领域的最新应用进展,尤其是在新生血管成像、肿瘤的早期诊断及肿瘤的原位成像方面。     

肿瘤乏氧靶向响应的罗丹明荧光探针及其成像介导手术治疗

基于罗丹明的良好荧光性能, 经化学偶联反应制备并表征了一个偶氮乏氧特异响应的“Off-On”型荧光成像探针(FY-4). 从分子层面证实了其荧光“Off-On”性能和响应机制; 在L02正常细胞及4T1, HeLa和A549肿瘤细胞层面考察了其对受试细胞株的毒性和不同乏氧时间的荧光成像性能; 再利用4T1肿瘤模型, 分别以肿瘤原位注射和尾静脉注射的方式考察了其荧光成像性能, 并探究了其荧光成像介导切除肿瘤性能, 最后还考察了FY-4的生物安全性. 结果表明, FY-4有高的肿瘤乏氧靶向特异“关-开”响应的荧光成像差异显影及荧光成像介导切除肿瘤的潜能, 结合其良好的光物理性能、 生物安全性和明晰的给药时间等特性, 有望为生物医学荧光成像介导肿瘤切除提供新的研究工具.     

荧光碳点的生物效应及其应用研究进展

作为碳纳米材料的新成员,荧光碳点自发现以来以其独特的光学性能和生物效应引起了人们广泛的关注.新型荧光碳点表面经过钝化修饰后,被赋予相关的反应活性及靶向选择性.此外,荧光碳点更具有较低细胞毒性及优异的生物相容性,使碳点的应用日益多样化,特别在生物医学领域具有广阔的应用前景.本文对荧光碳点在生化分析、微生物检测、生物成像及疾病诊断治疗上的应用研究进展做了详细的论述.     

有机小分子纳米粒子的光学诊疗应用

癌症严重威胁着人类健康, 因此, 急需开发高效的诊断和治疗方法. 基于光敏剂和近红外激光的光学诊疗将诊断和治疗集于一体, 与传统的手术治疗和化学治疗相比, 光学诊疗显示出无创性和高空间选择性的优点. 有机小分子染料具有确定且易于修饰的化学结构、 良好的重现性和优异的生物相容性, 与无机和聚合物材料相比, 它是一类具有前景的可用于光学诊疗的光敏剂. 本文总结了基于传统小分子染料、 给体-受体(D-A)共轭小分子和聚集诱导发光(AIE)分子等有机小分子的纳米粒子在光学诊疗中的应用. 此外, 对于光学诊疗用有机小分子染料纳米粒子未来的挑战和前景也进行了展望.     

Mn~(2+)-doped ZrO_2@PDA nanocomposite for multimodal imaging-guided chemo-photothermal combination therapy

Developing low toxicity and multifunctional theranostic nanoplatform is the key for precise cancer diagnosis and treatment.Herein,an inorganic-organic hybrid nanocomposite is designed by modifying zirconium dioxide(ZrO_2) with polydopamine(PDA) followed by doping Mn~(2+) ions and functionalizing with Tween 20(Tween-ZrO_2@PDA-Mn~(2+)) for multimodal imaging and chemo-photothermal combination therapy.The as-prepared nanocomposite exhibits good biocompatibility in vitro and in vivo.Specifically,it can be employed as a multifunctional platform not only for computed tomography(CT)imaging and T_1-weighted magnetic resonance(MR) imaging,but also for efficient chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin hydrochloride(DOX) loading.Importantly,because of the pronounced photothermal conversion performance and controllable DOX release ability triggered by the near-infrared(NIR)irradiation and acidic pH,the synergistic effect between photothermal the rapy and chemotherapy results in an enhanced cancer treatment efficacy in vivo.Our work provides a high-performance inorganicorganic hybrid nanotheranostic platform for chemo-photothermal cancer therapy guided by CT and MR imaging.     

Combined Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Photodynamic Therapy Using Polyfunctionalised Nanoparticles Bearing Robust Gadolinium Surface Units

A robust dithiocarbamate tether allows novel gadolinium units based on DOTAGA (q=1) to be attached to the surface of gold nanoparticles (2.6–4.1 nm diameter) along with functional units offering biocompatibility, targeting and photodynamic therapy. A dramatic increase in relaxivity (r₁) per Gd unit from 5.01 mm ⁻¹ s⁻¹ in unbound form to 31.68 mm ⁻¹ s⁻¹ (10 MHz, 37 °C) is observed when immobilised on the surface due to restricted rotation and enhanced rigidity of the Gd complex on the nanoparticle surface. The single-step synthetic route provides a straightforward and versatile way of preparing multifunctional gold nanoparticles, including examples with conjugated zinc–tetraphenylporphyrin photosensitizers. The lack of toxicity of these materials (MTT assays) is transformed on irradiation of HeLa cells for 30 minutes (PDT), leading to 75 % cell death. In addition to passive targeting, the inclusion of units capable of actively targeting overexpressed folate receptors illustrates the potential of these assemblies as targeted theranostic agents.     

Multifunctional Uniform Core–Shell Fe3O4@mSiO2 Mesoporous Nanoparticles for Bimodal Imaging and Photothermal Therapy

Multimodal imaging and simultaneous therapy is highly desirable because it can provide complementary information from each imaging modality for accurate diagnosis and, at the same time, afford an imaging‐guided focused tumor therapy. In this study, indocyanine green (ICG), a near‐infrared (NIR) imaging agent and perfect NIR light absorber for laser‐mediated photothermal therapy, was successfully incorporated into superparamagnetic Fe₃O₄@mSiO₂ core–shell nanoparticles to combine the merit of NIR/magnetic resonance (MR) bimodal imaging properties with NIR photothermal therapy. The resultant nanoparticles were homogenously coated with poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) to make the surface of the composite nanoparticles positively charged, which would enhance cellular uptake driven by electrostatic interactions between the positive surface of the nanoparticles and the negative surface of the cancer cell. A high biocompatibility of the achieved nanoparticles was demonstrated by using a cell cytotoxicity assay. Moreover, confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) observations indicated excellent NIR fluorescent imaging properties of the ICG‐loaded nanoparticles. The relatively high r₂ value (171.6 mM ^?1 s^?1) of the nanoparticles implies its excellent capability as a contrast agent for MRI. More importantly, the ICG‐loaded nanoparticles showed perfect NIR photothermal therapy properties, thus indicating their potential for simultaneous cancer diagnosis as highly effective NIR/MR bimodal imaging probes and for NIR photothermal therapy of cancerous cells.     

Luminescent Gold Nanorods To Enhance the Near-Infrared Emission of a Photosensitizer for Targeted Cancer Imaging and Dual Therapy: Experimental and Theoretical Approach

Strong plasmon absorption in the near-infrared (NIR) region renders gold nanorods (GNRs) amenable for biomedical applications, particularly for photothermal therapy. However, these nanostructures have not been explored for their imaging potential because of their weak emission profile. In this study, the weak fluorescence emission of GNRs is tuned to match that of the absorption of a photosensitizer (PS) molecule, and energy transfer from the GNR to PS enhances the emission profile of the GNR–PS combination. GNR complexes generally quench the fluorescence emission of nearby chromophores. However, herein, the complex retains or rather enhances the fluorescence through competition in energy transfer. Excitation-dependent energy transfer has been explained experimentally and theoretically by using DFT calculations, the CIE chromaticity diagram, and power spectrum. The final GNR–PS complex modified for tumor specificity serves as an excellent organ-specific theranostic probe for bioimaging and dual therapy both in vitro and in vivo. Principal component analysis designates photodynamic therapy a better candidate than that of photothermal therapy for long-term efficacy in vivo.     

Nitric Oxide Photoreleasers with Fluorescent Reporting

Nitric oxide (NO) plays a multifaceted role in human physiology and pathophysiology, and its controlled delivery has great prospects in therapeutic applications. The light-activated uncaging of NO from NO caging compounds allows this free radical to be released with accurate control of site and dosage, which strictly determine its biological effects. Molecular constructs able to activate fluorescence concomitantly to NO release offer the important advantage of easy and real-time tracking of the amount of NO uncaged in a non-invasive fashion even in the cell environment. This contribution provides an overview of the advances in photoactivatable NO releasers bearing fluorescent reporting functionalities achieved in our and other laboratories, highlighting the rationale design and their potential therapeutic applications.     

Magnetic-Optical Imaging for Monitoring Chemodynamic Therapy

Chemodynamic therapy kills cancer cells with reactive oxygen species generated by endogenous triggers in the tumor microenvironment. Although chemodynamic therapy is blossoming in recent years, their therapy process still faces a series of hampers. The unknown catalytic activity of chemodynamic therapy reagents may lead to unpredictable therapy effects, so it is necessary to reveal the therapeutic mechanism of chemodynamic therapy and develop self-monitoring probes. In this mini-review, we summarize and illustrate the most recent progress of chemodynamic therapy, focusing on the applications of magnetic imaging and optical imaging probe for monitoring cancer chemodynamic therapy. Furthermore, we also discuss the potential challenges and the further directions of this field.     

Pheophytin Derived Near‐Infrared‐Light Responsive Carbon Dot Assembly as a New Phototheranotic Agent for Bioimaging and Photodynamic Therapy

Carbon dots (CDs), a kind of phototheranostic agent with the capability of simultaneous bioimaging and phototherapy [i.e., photodynamic therapy (PDT) or photothermal therapy (PTT)], have received considerable attention because of their remarkable properties, including flexibility for surface modification, high biocompatibility, low toxicity and photo‐induced activity for malignant tumor cells. Among numerous carbon sources, it has been found that natural biomass are good candidates for the preparation of CD phototheranostic agents. In this study, pheophytin, a type of Mg‐free chlorophyll derivative and also a natural product with low toxicity, was used as a raw carbon source for the synthesis of CDs by using a microwave method. The obtained hydrophobic CDs exhibited a maximum near‐infrared (NIR) emission peak at approximately 680 nm, and high singlet oxygen (¹O₂) generation with a quantum yield of 0.62. The self‐assembled CDs from the as‐prepared CDs with DSPE‐mPEG2000 retained efficient ¹O₂ generation. The obtained carbon dot assembly was not only an efficient fluorescence (FL) imaging agent but also a smart PDT agent. Our studies indicated that the obtained hydrophilic CD assembly holds great potential as a new phototheranostic agent for cancer therapy. This work provides a new route for synthesis of CDs and proposes a readily available candidate for tumor treatment.