Aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-guided dynamic assembly for disease imaging and therapy

Multivalent Polypeptide and Tannic Acid Cooperatively Iron-Coordinated Nanohybrids for Synergistic Cancer Photothermal Ferroptosis Therapy

“…To test the feasibility for in vivo MRI, the images of T1-weighted MRI were photographed at the prescribed times of the PCFT post-injection (Figure e). As expected, the images in tumors became brightened over time (Figure f), and the strongest signal at 6 h was 1.60-fold the contrast and retained about 1.35 times until 12 h. In vivo MRI of PCFT is in agreement with both PAI and PTI, demonstrating that PCFT could accumulate in tumors and act as a potential contrast agent for triple PAI/PTI/MRI in vivo. , …”

“…Malignancies have been causing increasing fatality and seriously threatening human being’s health. In this case, multifunctional theranostic nanoparticles have tremendous potential in cancer therapies such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, photodynamic therapy, and the emerging photothermal therapy (PTT) and chemodynamic therapy (CDT) as well. − In contrast to single therapy, combination therapies that synergize individual advantages have been implemented in the clinic and are attracting much interest in fighting cancers. Therefore, constructing multifunctional nanoparticles integrating two or more different modalities that achieve precision cancer treatments to boost efficacy and reduce side effects is in demand …”

“…However, its preparation and nanostructure control are complicated for further applications. Meanwhile, exploiting the typical Fenton reaction that uses iron ions (Fe 3+ /Fe 2+ ) to catalyze endogenous H 2 O 2 in tumor cells into highly toxic hydroxyl radicals (·OH) to induce ferroptosis has attracted increasing attention, providing practicable strategies for applications. − ,− On the other hand, PTT can not only achieve highly pinpoint ablation on tumors but also increase the Fenton reaction kinetics via elevating the temperature of tumors. , However, common high-temperature PTT (i.e., photoheating at >50 °C) would cause tissue damage, skin scarring, and terrible tumor necrosis and relapse, preventing real applications. ,, We reason that a mild PTT can orchestrate FT to tracelessly eradicate tumors at a moderate temperature of <50 °C as single treatment of mild PTT or FT cannot ablate tumors at will. Thus, there is a plenty of room to develop biocompatible theranostics that cooperatively integrate mild PTT and FT to combat solid tumors. ,− …”

“…Recently, phenolic hydroxyl-pendant compounds including natural tannic acid (TA), gallic acid (GA), and (poly)­dopamine can chelate to metal ions and form intracellular pH-sensitive nanomaterials, in which TA has a stronger coordination ability than the others and holds great potential for further applications. − For example, the TA-coordinated nanomaterial can serve as efficient PTT and diagnostic agents for photoacoustic imaging (PAI) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); however, irregular nanoparticles often formed with uncontrollable morphology in batch-to-batch because of a fast and strong coordination-induced aggregation. − What is more, a low ratio of Fe 3+ /TA failed to enable a stable network formation while a high ratio would cause microscale precipitates. The FT based on iron-nanomaterials has a unique mechanism to improve antitumor efficacy via the membrane accumulation of LPO and the downregulation of GPX-4, inhibiting drug resistance and immune evasion; however, there are still some hurdles including the lower loading and uncontrollable release of iron ions, the slower kinetics of the intracellular Fenton reaction, and the poor efficacy of FT that need to be overcome for cancer FT and PTT-FT treatments. ,− …”

Design and structural regulation of AIE photosensitizers for imaging-guided photodynamic anti-tumor application

“…AIE luminogens which emit strong fluorescence in the aggregation state distinguishing from the conventional ACQ fluorophores are found to sensitize oxygen to generate ROS under light irradiation to be potential PSs in PDT. 25–29 With their superior performances compared to traditional light materials, AIEgens have proven to be worthy in a series of high-tech fields, such as stimuli-responsive intelligent systems, 30–32 efficient light-emitting diodes, 33–35 optical displays, 36 sensitive chemical sensors, 37,38 and precision medical instruments, 39 and play an increasingly significant role in the environment, optoelectronics, medical testing and other fields closely related to life science. 40–42…”