色氨酸-山梨醇基碳量子点用于治疗肝细胞癌的诊断与治疗。

BACKGROUND: Despite novel advances in screening, targeting and immunotherapies, early diagnosis and satisfactory treatments against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain formidable challenges. Given the unique advantages, carbon quantum dots (CQDs) become a smart theranostic nanomaterial for cancer diagnosis and therapy. RESULTS: In this work, a type of bio-friendly CQDs, trichrome-tryptophan-sorbitol CQDs (TC-WS-CQDs), is synthesized from natural biocompatible tryptophan via the one-pot hydrothermal method. Compared with normal hepatocytes, a much stronger green fluorescence is detected in HCC cells, indicating the ability of TC-WS-CQDs to target HCC cells. Furthermore, green-emitting TC-WS-CQDs generate large amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to autophagy of HCC cells. Additionally, the green-emitting TC-WS-CQDs perform significant tumor inhibition by inducing autophagy via p53-AMPK pathway in vitro and in vivo studies with almost no systemic toxicity. CONCLUSIONS: The results may highlight a promising anticancer nanotheranostic strategy with integration of diagnosis, targeting, and therapy.

背景：尽管在筛查、靶向和免疫治疗方面取得了新的进展，但肝癌（HCC）的早期诊断和满意治疗仍然是巨大的挑战。鉴于其独特的优势，碳量子点（CQDs）成为癌症诊断和治疗的一种智能治疗纳米材料。

结果：在这项工作中，从天然生物相容性色氨酸通过一锅水热法合成了一种生物友好型 CQDs，三原色-色氨酸-山梨醇 CQDs（TC-WS-CQDs）。与正常肝细胞相比，在 HCC 细胞中检测到更强的绿色荧光，表明 TC-WS-CQDs 能够靶向 HCC 细胞。此外，发绿光的 TC-WS-CQDs 产生大量的活性氧（ROS），导致 HCC 细胞自噬。此外，发绿光的 TC-WS-CQDs 通过 p53-AMPK 通路在体外和体内研究中诱导自噬，对肿瘤具有显著的抑制作用，几乎没有全身毒性。

结论：这些结果可能突出了一种有前途的癌症纳米治疗策略，该策略将诊断、靶向和治疗相结合。