Center for Translational Medicine Research, Shanxi Medical University, Imaging Department, The Affiliated Bethune Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001, People's Republic of China.
Key Laboratory of Pesticides and Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, People's Republic of China.
Int J Nanomedicine. 2020 Dec 15;15:10199-10213. doi: 10.2147/IJN.S284520. eCollection 2020.
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.
In this work, a promising nanoprobe was constructed using a facile EDC/NHS strategy involving an NIR-II dye and melanin nanoparticles.
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.
These results indicate the immense potential of nanoprobes for the NIR-II fluorescence/PA imaging-guided photothermal therapy of laryngeal cancer.
喉癌是头颈部区域第二大常见的原发性上皮恶性肿瘤，为了尽可能保留患者的言语和吞咽功能，有必要开发更精确、高效和安全的治疗方法。多模态成像引导光热治疗（PTT）可以精确描绘肿瘤，实时监测光热剂在肿瘤部位的积累，准确选择最佳照射区域，并预测激光治疗的最佳时间。与外源性光热剂相比，内源性黑色素材料在体内具有更好的生物安全性，具有天然的生物相容性和生物降解性，以及良好的近红外（NIR）吸收率。可以通过简便的方法将 NIR-II 染料附着到黑色素上，应用基于黑色素染料的纳米探针可能是消除浅层喉癌而避免全喉切除术的绝佳选择。
在这项工作中，使用简便的 EDC/NHS 策略构建了一种有前途的纳米探针，该策略涉及 NIR-II 染料和黑色素纳米颗粒。
纳米探针表现出良好的水溶性、分散性、强的近红外-II 荧光和光声（PA）信号以及更高的光热性能。细胞研究表明，该纳米探针具有低毒性、优异的生物相容性和显著增强的成像特性。将纳米探针静脉注射到 Hep-2 喉异种移植物中后，在各个时间点获得了出色的双模态图像，显示出最佳的光热治疗时间为 8 小时。随后，进行了体内 PTT，激光照射后完全消除了喉肿瘤，没有明显的副作用。
这些结果表明，纳米探针在 NIR-II 荧光/PA 成像引导喉癌光热治疗方面具有巨大的潜力。
