Issue 19, 2022

Protease-activated indocyanine green nanoprobes for intraoperative NIR fluorescence imaging of primary tumors

Abstract

Tumor-targeted fluorescent probes in the near-infrared spectrum can provide invaluable information about the location and extent of primary and metastatic tumors during intraoperative procedures to ensure no residual tumors are left in the patient's body. Even though the first fluorescence-guided surgery was performed more than 50 years ago, it is still not accepted as a standard of care in part due to the lack of efficient and non-toxic targeted probes approved by regulatory agencies around the world. Herein, we report protease-activated cationic gelatin nanoparticles encapsulating indocyanine green (ICG) for the detection of primary breast tumors in murine models with high tumor-to-background ratios. Upon intravenous administration, these nanoprobes remain optically silent due to the energy resonance transfer among the bound ICG molecules. As the nanoprobes extravasate and are exposed to the acidic tumor microenvironment, their positive surface charges increase, facilitating cellular uptake. The internalized nanoprobes are activated upon proteolytic degradation of gelatin to allow high contrast between the tumor and normal tissue. Since both gelatin and ICG are FDA-approved for intravenous administration, this activatable nanoprobe can lead to quick clinical adoption and improve the treatment of patients undergoing image-guided cancer surgery.

Graphical abstract: Protease-activated indocyanine green nanoprobes for intraoperative NIR fluorescence imaging of primary tumors

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
03 May 2022
Accepted
25 Jun 2022
First published
01 Jul 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale Adv., 2022,4, 4041-4050

Protease-activated indocyanine green nanoprobes for intraoperative NIR fluorescence imaging of primary tumors

B. Lew, M. George, S. Blair, Z. Zhu, Z. Liang, J. Ludwig, C. Y. Kim, K. (. Kim, V. Gruev and H. Choi, Nanoscale Adv., 2022, 4, 4041 DOI: 10.1039/D2NA00276K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements