Fluorescence imaging assisted photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a viable two-in-one clinical tool for cancer treatment and follow-up. While the surface plasmon effect of gold nanorods and nanoparticles has been effective for cancer therapy, their emission properties when compared to gold nanoclusters are weak for fluorescence imaging guided PDT. In order to address the above issues, we have synthesized a near-infrared-emitting gold quantum cluster capped with lipoic acid (L-AuC with (Au)18(L)14) based nanoplatform with excellent tumor reduction property by incorporating a tumor-targeting agent (folic acid) and a photosensitizer (protoporphyrin IX), for selective PDT. The synthesized quantum cluster based photosensitizer PFL-AuC showed 80% triplet quantum yield when compared to that of the photosensitizer alone (63%). PFL-AuC having 60 μg (0.136 mM) of protoporphyrin IX was sufficient to kill 50% of the tumor cell population. Effective destruction of tumor cells was evident from the histopathology and fluorescence imaging, which confirm the in vivo PDT efficacy of PFL-AuC.
Fluorescence and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy are powerful tools to differentiate normal and malignant tissue based on the emissions from endogenous fluorophores and diffuse reflection of absorbers such as hemoglobin. However, separate analytical methods are used for the identification of fluorophores and hemoglobin. The estimation of fluorophores and hemoglobin simultaneously using a single technique of autofluorescence spectroscopy is reported, and its diagnostic potential on clinical tissue samples is potentially exploited. Surgically removed brain tissues from patients that are later identified pathologically as astrocytoma, glioma, meningioma, and schwannoma are studied. The emissions from prominent fluorophores collagen, flavin adenine dinucleotide, phospholipids, and porphyrin are analyzed at 320 and 410 nm excitations. The hemoglobin concentration is also calculated from the ratio of fluorescence emissions at 500 and 570 nm. A better classification of normal and tumor tissues is yielded for 410 nm excitation compared to 320 nm when diagnostic algorithm based on linear discriminant analysis is used. The potential of fluorescence spectroscopy as a single entity to evaluate the prominent fluorophores as well as the hemoglobin concentration within normal and tumor brain tissues is emphasized.
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