Design of One-for-All Near-Infrared Aggregation-Induced Emission Nanoaggregates for Boosting Theranostic Efficacy

Abstract

Fluorescence-guided phototherapy, including photodynamic and photothermal therapy, is considered an emerging noninvasive strategy for cancer treatments. Organic molecules are promising theranostic agents because of their facile construction, simple modification, and good biocompatibility. Organic systems that integrated multifunctionalities in a single component and achieved high efficiency in both imaging and therapies are rarely reported as the inherently competitive energy relaxation pathways are hard to modulate, and fluorescence quenching occurs upon molecular aggregation. Herein, a versatile theranostic platform with near-infrared emission, high fluorescence quantum yield, robust reactive oxygen species production, and excellent photothermal conversion efficiency was developed based on an aggregation-induced emission luminogen, namely, TPA-TBT. In vivo studies revealed that the TPA-TBT nanoaggregates exhibit outstanding photodynamic and photothermal therapy efficacy to ablate tumors inoculated in a mouse model. This work offers a design strategy to develop one-for-all cancer theranostic agents by modulating and utilizing the relaxation energy of excitons in full.

pH-Responsive Upconversion Mesoporous Silica Nanospheres for Combined Multimodal Diagnostic Imaging and Targeted Photodynamic and Photothermal Cancer Therapy

“…This is supported by the photothermal response profile of the LUMSNs (Figure h), which matches that of other Bi 2 Se 3 -based PTT nanomaterials. , Additionally, the photothermal stability of LUMSNs was assessed over five laser on/off cycles. The maximum temperature (∼55 °C) was nearly identical over the five successive heating/cooling cycles, underlining the high photostability of the LUMSNs (Figure i). ,, Together, these results emphasize the PDT and PTT potentials of the designed nanospheres.…”

Ultrasound-Chargeable Persistent Luminescence Nanoparticles to Generate Self-Propelled Motion and Photothermal/NO Therapy for Synergistic Tumor Treatment

“…Thus, the PDA coating was another factor that should be considered to achieve the integral efficacy of tissue diffusion and PTT/NO therapy for tumor treatment. In addition, the tumor signaling pathway or the release of immune-related substances may be modulated by NO gas and the thermal effect . The immune response at tumor sites is worthy of being clarified to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the antitumor mechanism of mSZ@PDA-NO/US treatment.…”

“…In addition, the tumor signaling pathway or the release of immune-related substances may be modulated by NO gas and the thermal effect. 57 The immune response at tumor sites is worthy of being clarified to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the antitumor mechanism of mSZ@PDA-NO/US treatment.…”

A Highly Water‐Soluble Aggregation‐Induced Emission Luminogen with Anion‐π+ Interactions for Targeted NIR Imaging of Cancer Cells and Type I Photodynamic Therapy

“…However, these may bring about new problems including instability during in vivo circulation, poor reproducibility, low drug‐loading efficiency, and uncontrollable drug release [31–33] . Furthermore, the compact packing of PSs, inadequate presence of oxygen within the nanoparticles, and restricted diffusion range of ROS may lead to diminished therapeutic efficacy [34–35] . Although the water solubility of PSs can be effectively improved by introducing multiple quaternary ammonium salts or sulfonates into the molecule, the synthetic procedures always suffer from multiple/complex operations and difficult purification bottlenecks [36–38] .…”