Up-Conversion Nanoparticles for Gastric Cancer Targeted Imaging and Therapy

Abstract

As a new generation of fluorophores, up-conversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) exhibit high penetration depth in tissues, low photodamage to biological samples, large Stokes shifts, sharp emission bands, free auto-fluorescence background and high photostability, thus making them an ideal kind of fluorescent labels for a variety of assay formats ranging from bio-imaging to cancer therapy. In this article, the method for the synthesis of biocompatible UCNPs, the recent progress regarding the UCNPs for multimodal targeted tumor imaging, drug delivery, photodynamic therapy (PDT), and photothermal therapy (PTT) are discussed on emphasis. The challenges and opportunities in this emerging field are also presented.

<p>Up-Conversion Luminescent Nanoparticles for Molecular Imaging, Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment</p>

“…Their quality of high penetration into tissues, low damage to biological samples, flexibility for storage, sharp emission bands, and resistance to auto-fluorescence interference has been reported. 1 , 2 RE nanoparticles have become an ideal biomaterial choice for multi-modal tumor imaging, drug delivery, photodynamic therapy (PDT), and photo-thermal therapy (PTT) because of the up-conversion luminescence mechanism. 3 , 4 The up-conversion luminescence refers to a non-linear optical process involved in continuous multiphoton absorption and the interionic energy transfer, in which low-energy photons are converted into one high-energy (with short wavelength) emission.…”

Selective cellular imaging with lanthanide‐based upconversion nanoparticles

“…High‐contrast cellular imaging has been reported using NIR to visible and NIR to NIR UCNPs . Initial attempts have been made in using UCNPs in the imaging of certain cancer cells .…”