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Engineering the Protein Corona Structure on Gold Nanoclusters Enables Red-Shifted Emissions in the Second Near-infrared Window for Gastrointestinal Imaging |
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| Authors: | Dr. Weili Wang Dr. Yifei Kong Jun Jiang Qianqian Xie Yang Huang Guanna Li Di Wu Huizhen Zheng Meng Gao Shujuan Xu Yanxia Pan Wei Li Ronglin Ma Mei X. Wu Xuehua Li Han Zuilhof Xiaoming Cai Prof. Ruibin Li |
| Affiliation: | 1. State Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Protection, School for Radiological and Interdisciplinary Sciences (RAD-X), Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiological Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123 Jiangsu, China;2. Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02114 USA These authors contributed equally to this work.;3. Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering, School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024 China;4. Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Wageningen University, Stippeneng 4, 6703 WE Wageningen, The Netherlands Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia;5. Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02114 USA;6. School of Public Health, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123 Jiangsu, China |
| Abstract: | The application of NIR-II emitters for gastrointestinal (GI) tract imaging remains challenging due to fluorescence quenching in the digestive microenvironment. Herein, we report that red-shifting of the fluorescence emission of Au nanoclusters (AuNCs) into NIR-II region with improved quantum yields (QY) could be achieved by engineering a protein corona structure consisting of a ribonuclease-A (RNase-A) on the particle surfaces. RNase-A-encapsulated AuNCs (RNase-A@AuNCs) displayed emissions at 1050 nm with a 1.9 % QY. Compared to rare earth and silver-based NIR-II emitters, RNase-A@AuNCs had excellent biocompatibility, showing >50-fold higher sensitivity in GI tract, and migrated homogenously during gastrointestinal peristalsis to allow visualization of the detailed structures of the GI tract. RNase-A@AuNCs could successfully examine intestinal tumor mice from healthy mice, indicating a potential utility for early diagnosis of intestinal tumors. |
| Keywords: | fluorescent probes gold nanoparticles protein corona red shift tumor imaging |