Department of Chemistry & Biology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada; Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Science and Technology (iBEST), a partnership between Ryerson University and St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON M5B 1T8, Canada; Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science of St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, M5B 1T8, Canada.
Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A7, Canada; Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada.
J Photochem Photobiol B. 2021 May;218:112110. doi: 10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2020.112110. Epub 2020 Dec 29.
Over the last decade, there has been significant developments in nanotechnology, in particular for combined imaging and therapeutic applications (theranostics). The core or shell of nanoemulsions (NEs) can be loaded with various therapeutic agents, including drugs with low solubility for effective treatment, or various imaging agents for specific imaging modalities (e.g., MRI, fluorescence). In this work, perfluorohexane (PFH) NEs were synthesized for theranostic applications and were coupled to silica coated gold nanoparticles (scAuNPs) to increase the generation of PFH bubbles upon laser induced vaporization (i.e., optical droplet vaporization). The localized heat generated from the absorption properties of these nanoparticles (used to provide photoacoustic signals) can also be used to treat cancer without significantly damaging nearby healthy tissues. The theranostic potential of these PFH-NEs for contrast imaging of tumors and as a drug-delivery vehicle for therapeutic purposes were demonstrated for both in vitro and in vivo systems using a combination of photoacoustic, ultrasound and fluorescence imaging modalities. The ability of PFH-NEs to couple with scAuNPs, attach to the membranes of cancer cells and internalize within cancer cells, are encouraging for targeted chemotherapeutic applications for directly inducing cancer cell death via vaporization in clinical settings.
在过去的十年中，纳米技术取得了重大进展，特别是在联合成像和治疗应用（治疗诊断学）方面。纳米乳剂（NE）的核心或外壳可以负载各种治疗剂，包括用于有效治疗的低溶解度药物，或用于特定成像方式（例如 MRI、荧光）的各种成像剂。在这项工作中，合成了全氟己烷（PFH）NE 用于治疗诊断学应用，并将其与涂有二氧化硅的金纳米粒子（scAuNP）结合，以增加激光诱导蒸发（即光液滴蒸发）时 PFH 气泡的生成。这些纳米粒子的吸收特性产生的局部热量（用于提供光声信号）也可用于治疗癌症，而不会对附近的健康组织造成明显损伤。使用光声、超声和荧光成像方式的组合，在体外和体内系统中证明了这些 PFH-NE 作为肿瘤对比成像的治疗诊断学潜力，以及作为治疗目的的药物输送载体。PFH-NE 与 scAuNP 结合、附着在癌细胞膜上并在癌细胞内内化的能力，对于通过在临床环境中蒸发直接诱导癌细胞死亡的靶向化疗应用是令人鼓舞的。
