Near-infrared activated cyanine dyes as agents for photothermal therapy and diagnosis of tumors

Abstract

Today, it has become apparent that innovative treatment methods, including those involving simultaneous diagnosis and therapy, are particularly in demand in modern cancer medicine. The development of nanomedicine offers new ways of increasing the therapeutic index and minimizing side effects. The development of photoactivatable dyes that are effectively absorbed in the first transparency window of biological tissues (700900 nm) and are capable of fluorescence and heat generation has led to the emergence of phototheranostics, an approach that combines the bioimaging of deep tumors and metastases and their photothermal treatment. The creation of near-infrared (NIR) light-activated agents for sensitive fluorescence bioimaging and phototherapy is a priority in phototheranostics, because the excitation of drugs and/or diagnostic substances in the near-infrared region exhibits advantages such as deep penetration into tissues and a weak baseline level of autofluorescence. In this review, we focus on NIR-excited dyes and discuss prospects for their application in photothermal therapy and the diagnosis of cancer. Particular attention is focused on the consideration of new multifunctional nanoplatforms for phototheranostics which allow one to achieve a synergistic effect in combinatorial photothermal, photodynamic, and/or chemotherapy, with simultaneous fluorescence, acoustic, and/or magnetic resonance imaging.

A Highly Efficient One-for-All Nanodroplet for Ultrasound Imaging-Guided and Cavitation-Enhanced Photothermal Therapy

“…All animal experiments were conducted in accordance with the institutional guidelines and were approved by the Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee of the School of Life Science and Technology of Xi'an Jiaotong University. A tumor model was established by administering 1×10 7 HeLa cells subcutaneously into the right flank of each nude mouse. Tumor size was measured using a caliper and the volume calculated by: Tumor volume = length × width 2 /2.…”

“…[1][2][3] However, the challenges for its clinical applications include insufficient photothermal ablation, limited penetration depth and general concerns regarding the fabrication and use of complex nanosystems in vivo. [4][5][6][7] To overcome such limitations, several nanosystems constructed with high efficient PTT agents that integrated multiple imaging modalities and therapeutic functions have attracted much attention recently. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] As a promising theranostic agent, the NIR responsive perfluorocarbon (PFC) nanodroplets have been widely used for multimodal imaging guided PTT of tumors due to their ability of phase transition from nanodroplets to microbubbles.…”

“…[4][5][6][7] To overcome such limitations, several nanosystems constructed with high efficient PTT agents that integrated multiple imaging modalities and therapeutic functions have attracted much attention recently. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] As a promising theranostic agent, the NIR responsive perfluorocarbon (PFC) nanodroplets have been widely used for multimodal imaging guided PTT of tumors due to their ability of phase transition from nanodroplets to microbubbles. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] During the PTT, the phase transition can be triggered by a localized hyperthermia, and the generated microbubbles in situ are effective contrast agents for ultrasound (US) imaging, which is an established non-invasive, low cost, and real-time imaging technique.…”

Photoluminescent Nanomaterials for Medical Biotechnology

“…Nowadays, UCNPs are proving themselves to be not only excellent imaging agents for fluorescence diagnostics, but also a highly efficient platform for assembling multifunctional theranostic complexes [ 200 , 201 , 202 ]. Modifying their surface with immunoglobulin- and non-immunoglobulin targeting modules enables one to use UCNPs in high-precision optical diagnostics of oncological diseases.…”

Luminescent nano‐bioprobes based on NIR dye/lanthanide nanoparticle composites

“…[11] Beside of the fluorescence emission from the singlet-excited state, the nonradiative process in the form of thermal deactivation as well as the dissipation pathways by intersystem crossing to a tripletexcited state (T 1 ) endow the NIR dyes photothermal and photodynamic properties. [12,13] Moreover, modest nucleophilicity and electrophilicity of the heptamethine chromophore imply that the cyanine dye may undergo specific reaction and is available for biodetection. [11] In vivo experiments revealed a rapid tissue clearance for these dye molecules.…”