<p>Facile Synthesis of Melanin-Dye Nanoagent for NIR-II Fluorescence/Photoacoustic Imaging-Guided Photothermal Therapy</p>

Abstract

Background Laryngeal cancer is the second most common type of primary epithelial malignant tumor in the head and neck region, and the development of therapies that are more precise, efficient, and safe is necessary to preserve patient speech and swallowing functions as much as possible. Multi-modal imaging-guided photothermal therapy (PTT) can precisely delineate tumors, monitor the real-time accumulation of photothermal agents at the tumor site, accurately select the optimal region for irradiation, and predict the best time for laser treatment. Compared with exogeneous photothermal agents, endogenous melanin materials have better biosafety in vivo, in terms of native biocompatibility and biodegradability, as well as good near-infrared (NIR) absorbance. An NIR-II dye can be attached to melanin via a facile method, and applying a melanin-dye-based nanoprobe could be an excellent choice for the elimination of superficial laryngeal cancer while avoiding total laryngectomy. Methods In this work, a promising nanoprobe was constructed using a facile EDC/NHS strategy involving an NIR-II dye and melanin nanoparticles. Results The nanoprobe exhibited good water solubility, dispersibility, strong NIR-II fluorescence and photoacoustic (PA) signals, and higher photothermal performance. Cellular studies showed that the nanoprobe had low toxicity, excellent biocompatibility, and significantly enhanced imaging properties. After the nanoprobe was intravenously injected into Hep-2 laryngeal xenografts, superior dual-modal images were obtained at various time points, which revealed that the optimal photothermal treatment time was 8 h. Subsequently, PTT was carried out in vivo, and laryngeal tumors were completely eliminated after laser irradiation without any obvious side effects. Conclusion These results indicate the immense potential of nanoprobes for the NIR-II fluorescence/PA imaging-guided photothermal therapy of laryngeal cancer.

Multifunctional Hybrid Nanoprobe for Photoacoustic/PET/MR Imaging-Guided Photothermal Therapy of Laryngeal Cancer

“…The solution is cooled down to room temperature, and the temperature was monitored every 10 s. The photothermal conversion efficiencies were calculated by the previously reported methods. 33 2.5. PA and MR Imaging In Vitro.…”

Recent Progress on NIR-II Photothermal Therapy

“… Zeng et al (2018b) conjugated water-soluble and biocompatible small-molecule NIR-II dye H2a-4T with fetal bovine serum (FBS) and Cetuximab proteins to enhance the tumor targeting and achieved good PTT effect on colorectal cancer. Assorted dyes with NIR-II fluorescence were adopted and developed for use in PTT with good photothermal effect, and showed promising perspective of NIR-II dyes utilized for imaging-guided PTT ( Wang et al, 2019 ; Zhou et al, 2020a ; Xu et al, 2020b ; Chen et al, 2020 ; Sun et al, 2020 ).…”

Combination of Photothermal Therapy with Anti‐Inflammation Therapy Attenuates the Inflammation Tumor Microenvironment and Weakens Immunosuppression for Enhancement Antitumor Treatment

“…[9][10][11] Recently, a variety of nearinfrared (NIR) absorption nanomaterials have been applied for photothermal treatment of tumors. [12][13][14][15][16][17] However, these NIR absorption nanomaterials exhibited some shortcomings including latent biosafety dangers from toxic elements, low stability, and insufficient photothermal conversion efficiency, which severely restrict further clinical application.…”