The visualization of the treatment process in situ could facilitate to accurately monitor cancer photothermal therapy (PTT), and dramatically decrease the risk of thermal damage to normal cells and tissues, which represents a major challenge for cancer precision therapy. Herein, we prepare theranostic nanoprobes (NPs) for Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based dual-modal imaging-guided cancer PTT, and clear visualization of the therapeutic process. The FRET-based theranostic NPs exhibit high FRET efficiency (88.2%), good colloidal stability, and tumor-targeting ability. Tumor tissue and surrounding blood vessels are visualized clearly by FRET-based NIR fluorescence imaging with a high signal-to-background ratio (14.5) and photoacoustic imaging with an excellent resolution at 24 h post injection of NPs. Under the guidance of dual-modal imaging, the NPs-induced photothermal effect selectively destructs cancer cells, simultaneously decreasing the FRET efficiency and leading to fluorescence and photoacoustic signal changes. The sensitive self-feedback process enables the in situ visualization of therapeutic process and precision guidance of in vivo cancer PTT. A high therapeutic efficacy and minimum side effects are achieved in C6 tumor-bearing nude mice, holding great promise for precision therapy and cancer theranostics.
Keywords: Förster resonance energy transfer.; human serum albumin; photoacoustic imaging; photothermal therapy; theranostics.