Issue 7, 2015

A two-dimensional molecular beacon for mRNA-activated intelligent cancer theranostics

Abstract

Ideal theranostics should possess directly correlated imaging and therapy modalities that could be simultaneously activated in the disease site to generate high imaging contrast and therapeutic efficacy with minimal side effects. However, so far it still remains challenging to engineer all these characteristics into a single theranostic probe. Herein, we report a new type of photosensitizer (PS)-derived “two-dimensional” molecular beacon (TMB) that could be specifically activated within tumor cells to exhibit both high imaging contrast and therapeutic efficacy that outperforms conventional photosensitizers for cancer theranostics. The TMB is constructed by integrating a photosensitizer (chlorin e6 (Ce6)), a quantum dot (QD), and a dark quencher (BHQ3) into a hairpin DNA molecule to generate multiple synergistic FRET modes. The imaging modality and therapy modality, which are mediated by FRET between the QD and BHQ3 and FRET between the QD and Ce6 respectively, are interconnected within the TMB and could be simultaneously activated by tumor mRNA molecules. We show that highly effective cancer imaging and therapy could be achieved for cancer cell lines and xenografted tumor models. The reported TMB represents an unprecedented theranostic platform for intelligent cancer theranostics.

Graphical abstract: A two-dimensional molecular beacon for mRNA-activated intelligent cancer theranostics

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
16 dez 2014
Accepted
29 mar 2015
First published
08 abr 2015
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., 2015,6, 3839-3844

A two-dimensional molecular beacon for mRNA-activated intelligent cancer theranostics

D. Wu, G. Song, Z. Li, T. Zhang, W. Wei, M. Chen, X. He and N. Ma, Chem. Sci., 2015, 6, 3839 DOI: 10.1039/C4SC03894K

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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