J-aggregates albumin-based NIR-II fluorescent dye nanoparticles for cancer phototheranostics

Bulin Du; Ruiqi Liu; Chunrong Qu; Kun Qian; Yongkuan Suo; Fengxia Wu; Hongda Chen; Xuena Li; Yaming Li; Hongguang Liu; Zhen Cheng

doi:10.1016/j.mtbio.2022.100366

J-aggregates albumin-based NIR-II fluorescent dye nanoparticles for cancer phototheranostics

Mater Today Bio. 2022 Aug 7:16:100366. doi: 10.1016/j.mtbio.2022.100366. eCollection 2022 Dec.

Authors

Bulin Du^{1

2}, Ruiqi Liu³, Chunrong Qu², Kun Qian², Yongkuan Suo³, Fengxia Wu³, Hongda Chen⁴, Xuena Li¹, Yaming Li¹, Hongguang Liu³, Zhen Cheng^{5

6

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nuclear Medicine, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, 110001, China.
² Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Department of Radiology and Bio-X Program, School of Medicine, Stanford University, California, 94305-5484, USA.
³ Institute of Molecular Medicine, College of Life and Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110000, China.
⁴ Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science, Changchun, 130000, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Molecular Imaging Center, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201203, China.
⁶ Shandong Laboratory of Yantai Drug Discovery, Bohai Rim Advanced Research Institute for Drug Discovery, Yantai, 264000, China.

Abstract

Phototheranostics, relying on energy conversions of fluorophores upon excitation, integrating diagnostic fluorescence imaging and photo-driven therapy, represents a promising strategy for cancer precision medicine. Compared with the first near-infrared biological window (NIR-I), fluorophores imaged in the second window (NIR-II, 1000-1700 nm) exhibit a higher temporal and spatial resolution and tissue penetration depth. Polymethine cyanine-based dye IR1061 is a typical NIR-II small-molecule organic fluorophore, but its low water solubility and short circulation time limiting its biological applications. Therefore, human serum albumin (HSA) nanoparticles with great biocompatibility and biosafety were employed to fabricate hydrophobic IR1061, which exhibited red-shifted absorption band as typical for J-aggregates. Moreover, IR1061@HSA nanoparticles can be successfully used for NIR-II imaging to noninvasively visualize the tumor vascular networks, as well as real-time intraoperative image-guided tumor resection. Interestingly, benefiting from the high photothermal conversion efficiency brought by J-aggregates, IR1061@HSA nanoparticles were also explored for photothermal therapy (PTT) and cause efficient thermal ablation of tumors. Overall, IR1061@HSA, as a novel J-aggregates albumin-based NIR II dye nanoparticle with high biocompatibility, provides an integrated versatile platform for cancer phototheranostics with promising clinical translation prospects.

Keywords: Fluorescence imaging; Human serum albumin; IR1061; Nanoparticles; Photothermal therapy; Second near-infrared window.