Many theranostic nanomedicines (NMs) have been fabricated by packaging imaging and therapeutic moieties together. However, concerns about their potential architecture instability and pharmacokinetic complexity remain major obstacles to their clinical translation. Herein, we demonstrated the use of CuInS/ZnS quantum dots (ZCIS QDs) as “all-in-one” theranostic nanomedicines that possess intrinsic imaging and therapeutic capabilities within a well-defined nanostructure. ZCIS QDs were exploited for multispectral optical tomography (MSOT) imaging and synergistic PTT/PDT therapy. Due to the intrinsic fluorescence/MSOT imaging ability of the ZCIS QDs, their size-dependent distribution profiles were successfully visualized at tumor sites in vivo. Our results showed that the smaller nanomedicines (ZCIS NMs-25) have longer tumor retention times, higher tumor uptake, and deeper tumor penetration than the larger nanomedicines (ZCIS NMs-80). The ability of ZCIS QDs to mediate photoinduced tumor ablation was also explored. Our results verified that under a single 660 nm laser irradiation, the ZCIS NMs had simultaneous inherent photothermal and photodynamic effects, resulting in high therapy efficacy against tumors. In summary, the ZCIS QDs as “all-in-one” versatile nanomedicines allow high therapeutic efficacy as well as noninvasively monitoring tumor site localization profiles by imaging techniques and thus hold great potential as precision theranostic nanomedicines.
Rheumatoid arthritis
(RA) is one of the most common chronic
autoimmune diseases. Despite considerable advances in clinical treatment
of RA, suboptimal response to therapy and treatment discontinuation
are still unresolved challenges due to systemic toxicity. It is of
crucial importance to actively target and deliver therapeutic agents
to inflamed joints in order to promote in situ activity
and decrease systemic toxicity. In this study, we found that SPARC
(secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine) was overexpressed in
the synovial fluid and synovium of RA patients as well as mice with
collagen-induced arthritis (CIA), which has been scarcely reported.
Building upon the SPARC signature of RA joint microenvironment and
the intrinsic high affinity of SPARC for albumin, we fabricated methotrexate-loaded
human serum albumin nanomedicines (MTX@HSA NMs) and explored them
as biomimetic drug delivery systems for RA therapy. Upon intravenous
injection of chlorin e6-labeled MTX@HSA NMs into CIA mice, the fluorescence/magnetic
resonance dual-modal imaging revealed higher accumulations and longer
retention of MTX@HSA NMs in inflamed joints with respect to free MTX
molecules. In vivo therapeutic evaluations suggested
that the MTX@HSA NMs were able to attenuate the progression of RA
with better efficacy and fewer side effects even at half dose
of administrated MTX in comparison with free MTX. By unraveling the
mechanism driving the efficient accumulation of MTX@HSA NMs in RA
joints and showing their ability to improve the safety and therapeutic
efficacy of MTX, our work sheds light on the development of innovative
anti-RA nanomedicines with a strong potential for clinical translation.
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