Biodegradable hollowed mesoporous SeO2 nanoplatform loaded with indocyanine green for simultaneous NIR II fluorescence imaging and synergistic breast carcinoma therapy

Tingwei Peng; Qing Liu; Hui Song; Conghui Zhang; Xue Wang; Ping Ru; Tianzhao Xu; Xinghui Liu

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2023.1151148

Biodegradable hollowed mesoporous SeO₂ nanoplatform loaded with indocyanine green for simultaneous NIR II fluorescence imaging and synergistic breast carcinoma therapy

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2023 Mar 16:11:1151148. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1151148. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Tingwei Peng¹, Qing Liu², Hui Song², Conghui Zhang², Xue Wang², Ping Ru³, Tianzhao Xu⁴, Xinghui Liu²

Affiliations

¹ Postgraduate Training Base at Shanghai Gongli Hospital, Ningxia Medical University, Shanghai, China.
² Department of Clinical Laboratory, Shanghai Gongli Hospital, The Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
³ Department of Obstetrics, Shanghai East Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Hospital Department, Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences Affiliated to Zhoupu Hospital, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Contrast agents in the second window of the near-infrared region (NIR II, 1000-1700 nm) have several advantages and indocyanine green (ICG), which emits NIR II fluorescence, is clinically approved and its use has been widely investigated for in vivo imaging, specifically for delineating tumor outlines; however, insufficient tumor targeting and rapid physiological metabolism of free ICG has substantially impeded its further clinical application. Here, we constructed novel hollowed mesoporous selenium oxide nanocarriers for precise ICG delivery. After surface modification with the active tumor targeting amino acid motif, RGD (hmSeO₂@ICG-RGD), the nanocarriers were preferentially targeted toward tumor cells and subsequently degraded for ICG and Se-based nanogranule release under tumor tissue extracellular pH conditions (pH 6.5). The released ICG acted as an NIR II contrast agent, highlighting tumor tissue, after intravenous administration of hmSeO₂@ICG-RGD into mammary tumor-bearing mice. Importantly, the photothermal effect of ICG improved reactive oxygen species production from SeO₂ nanogranules, inducing oxidative therapy. The synergistic therapeutic effects of hyperthermia and increased oxidative stress on 808 nm laser exposure induced significant tumor cell killing. Thus, our nanoplatform can generate a high-performance diagnostic and therapeutic nanoagent that facilitates in vivo tumor outline discrimination and tumor ablation.

Keywords: ICG precise delivery; NIR II fluorescent imaging; ROS mediated oxidative therapy; hollowed mesoporous SeO2; photothermal therapy.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a Clinical Research Project for Health Industry from Shanghai Municipal Health Commission (Grant No. 202140407), the Key Disciplines Group Construction Project of Pudong Health Bureau of Shanghai (Grant No. PWZxq 2022-08), and the Open Research Program of the State Key Laboratory of Virology of China (Grant No. 2022KF003).