School of Physics and Electronics, Synergetic Innovation Center for Quantum Effects and Application, Key Laboratory of Low-dimensional Quantum Structures and Quantum Control of Ministry of Education, and Key Laboratory for Matter Microstructure and Function of Hunan Province, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, P. R. China.
School of Physics and Electronic Sciences, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials Genome Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, P. R. China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Apr 6;14(13):14944-14952. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c24172. Epub 2022 Mar 22.
Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) emerged as promising near-infrared (NIR) light-triggered nanotransducers for photodynamic therapy (PDT). However, the traditionally used 980 nm excitation source could cause an overheating effect on biological tissues, and the single photosensitizer (PS) loading could not efficiently utilize multiradiation UC luminescence, resulting in a limited efficiency of PDT in tumor tissues with hypoxia characteristics. Herein, 808 nm light-responsive Nd-sensitized UCNPs@mSiO@MnO core-shell NPs were designed as light nanotransducers with efficient UC emission at 550 and 650 nm for PDT and downshifting luminescence at 1525 nm for second NIR (NIR-II) imaging. UC emission was fully utilized by loading dual PSs, rose bengal (RB), and zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc), thus significantly improving the reactive oxide species (ROS) generation efficiency. Moreover, a manganese dioxide (MnO) shell with ultrasensitive biodegradability in an acidic tumor microenvironment (TME) can generate an amount of oxygen molecules, alleviating the symptoms of hypoxia and then improving the efficacy of PDT. Meanwhile, the biodegraded Mn ions can further strengthen T-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This work presented a new multifunctional theranostic agent for combining NIR-II/MRI imaging and 808 nm light-triggered PDT to combat the limitations of cancer therapy.
上转换纳米粒子（UCNPs）作为一种有前途的近红外（NIR）光触发的纳米转导剂，在光动力疗法（PDT）中得到了广泛的应用。然而，传统上使用的 980nm 激发源可能会对生物组织产生过热效应，而单一的光敏剂（PS）负载不能有效地利用多辐射 UC 发光，从而导致缺氧肿瘤组织中 PDT 的效率有限。在此，设计了 808nm 光响应 Nd 敏化的 UCNPs@mSiO@MnO 核壳 NPs 作为光纳米转导剂，在 550nm 和 650nm 处具有高效的 UC 发射，用于 PDT，并在 1525nm 处进行下转换发光，用于第二近红外（NIR-II）成像。通过负载双 PS，玫瑰红（RB）和锌酞菁（ZnPc），充分利用 UC 发射，从而显著提高了活性氧物种（ROS）的生成效率。此外，在酸性肿瘤微环境（TME）中具有超灵敏生物降解性的二氧化锰（MnO）壳可以产生大量的氧分子，缓解缺氧症状，从而提高 PDT 的疗效。同时，生物降解的 Mn 离子可以进一步增强 T 加权磁共振成像（MRI）。这项工作提出了一种新的多功能治疗剂，用于结合 NIR-II/MRI 成像和 808nm 光触发的 PDT，以克服癌症治疗的局限性。
