Fang Xu, Wang Yaling, Ma Xiaochuan, Li Yingying, Zhang Zhaolei, Xiao Zhisheng, Liu Lijia, Gao Xueyun, Liu Jian
Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, China.
J Mater Chem B. 2017 Jun 14;5(22):4190-4197. doi: 10.1039/c7tb00422b. Epub 2017 May 17.
Radiotherapy is an important technology for the clinical treatment of cancer, but the patients suffer from the severe side effects after exposure to radiation. There is an urgent need to develop theranostic agents with excellent imaging capability and effective radiosensitization in order to minimize X-ray irradiation. Herein, we report an approach to synthesize peptide-templated Au nanoclusters (AuNCs) for theranostic radiosensitization. A new peptide (CCYKFR) is designed for the preparation of AuNCs with uniform size distribution and fluorescence (656 nm) of high photostability. CCYKFR-AuNCs feature highly efficient targeting/accumulation on mitochondria after endocytosis. With a series of experiments, we demonstrate that CCYKFR-AuNCs irradiated by 4 Gy X-rays can introduce a burst of mitoROS and severe DNA damage leading to cancer cell death. This study presents an important strategy to design theranostic nanomaterials with improved radiosensitization for the development of new anti-cancer therapies.
放射疗法是癌症临床治疗的一项重要技术，但患者在接受辐射后会遭受严重的副作用。迫切需要开发具有优异成像能力和有效放射增敏作用的诊疗剂，以尽量减少X射线照射。在此，我们报告了一种合成用于诊疗放射增敏的肽模板金纳米簇（AuNCs）的方法。设计了一种新的肽（CCYKFR）来制备尺寸分布均匀且具有高光稳定性荧光（656nm）的AuNCs。CCYKFR-AuNCs在内吞后在线粒体上具有高效的靶向/积累特性。通过一系列实验，我们证明4Gy X射线照射的CCYKFR-AuNCs可引发线粒体活性氧（mitoROS）爆发和严重的DNA损伤，从而导致癌细胞死亡。本研究提出了一种重要策略，即设计具有改善放射增敏作用的诊疗纳米材料，以开发新的抗癌疗法。
