Issue 7, 2017

Tumor microenvironment-triggered fabrication of gold nanomachines for tumor-specific photoacoustic imaging and photothermal therapy

Abstract

Nanoparticles as novel theranostic agents for cancer treatment have been extensively investigated in recent years. However, the poor tumor selectivity and retention of the theranostic agents result in unsatisfactory performance of both the diagnostic and therapeutic functions. Herein, we developed an alpha-cyclodextrin (α-CD)-based gold/DNA nanomachine for tumor-selective diagnosis and therapy. The α-CDs were capped at the ends of DNA, and their release was triggered by the low pH of the tumor microenvironment, which further resulted in DNA self-assembly through complementary base pairing. The large-sized gold aggregates failed to escape from the tumor tissue, thereby realizing the goal of tumor-specific targeting and enhanced retention. Thus, the photoacoustic signal and photothermal effect are also activated, thereby achieving tumor-targeted photoacoustic imaging and photothermal therapy. In vivo results indicated that the designed gold nanomachines can serve as efficient theranostic agents for diagnosis and therapy. Moreover, we found that the α-CD caps have the ability to protect the nanoparticles from clearance and enzyme digestion, which helps the nanoparticles reach the tumor more efficiently.

Graphical abstract: Tumor microenvironment-triggered fabrication of gold nanomachines for tumor-specific photoacoustic imaging and photothermal therapy

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
14 Febr. 2017
Accepted
27 Apr. 2017
First published
02 Maijs 2017
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2017,8, 4896-4903

Tumor microenvironment-triggered fabrication of gold nanomachines for tumor-specific photoacoustic imaging and photothermal therapy

Z. Yu, M. Wang, W. Pan, H. Wang, N. Li and B. Tang, Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 4896 DOI: 10.1039/C7SC00700K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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