Lim Junwoo, Yoo Yeojin, Choi Yongdoo
Division of Technology Convergence, National Cancer Center, 323 Ilsan-ro, Goyang 10408, Gyeonggi-Do, Republic of Korea.
Molecules. 2025 Mar 22;30(7):1414. doi: 10.3390/molecules30071414.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) are considered to be one of the most effective methods for treating cancer due to their noninvasive nature, high effectiveness, and fewer side effects compared to standard therapeutic modalities for cancer. However, conventional always-on types of PDT and PTT agents have basic drawbacks in their in vivo applications, which include the unwanted generation of strong fluorescence signals and phototoxicity in normal tissues, including blood vessels, when exposed to light, resulting in poor imaging contrast and unwanted phototoxicity. Here, we propose indocyanine green-loaded quenched nanoliposomes (Q-ICG-NLs) as an activatable nanotheranostics. Q-ICG-NLs showed significant quenching in near-infrared fluorescence emission and singlet oxygen generation upon light irradiation. The photothermal effect of Q-ICG-NLs was 1.3 times greater than free indocyanine green. Its fluorescence and singlet oxygen generation were largely restored when taken up into cancer cells, enabling the selective detection and phototherapy of cancer cells. These results suggest that Q-ICG-NLs can be effectively used for selective near-infrared fluorescence imaging and the subsequent image-guided PDT and PTT of cancers.
光动力疗法（PDT）和光热疗法（PTT）因其非侵入性、高效性以及与癌症标准治疗方式相比副作用较少，而被认为是治疗癌症最有效的方法之一。然而，传统的持续开启型PDT和PTT试剂在体内应用存在基本缺陷，包括在暴露于光时，在包括血管在内的正常组织中会产生不必要的强荧光信号和光毒性，导致成像对比度差和不必要的光毒性。在此，我们提出负载吲哚菁绿的猝灭纳米脂质体（Q-ICG-NLs）作为一种可激活的纳米诊疗试剂。Q-ICG-NLs在光照下近红外荧光发射和单线态氧生成表现出显著猝灭。Q-ICG-NLs的光热效应比游离吲哚菁绿大1.3倍。当被癌细胞摄取时，其荧光和单线态氧生成在很大程度上得以恢复，从而能够对癌细胞进行选择性检测和光疗。这些结果表明，Q-ICG-NLs可有效地用于癌症的选择性近红外荧光成像以及随后的图像引导下的PDT和PTT。
