Photostable and Biocompatible Fluorescent Silicon Nanoparticles-Based Theranostic Probes for Simultaneous Imaging and Treatment of Ocular Neovascularization

Abstract

Ocular neovascularization can result in devastating diseases that lead to marked vision impairment and eventual visual loss. In clinical implementation, neovascular eye diseases are first diagnosed by fluorescein angiography and then treated by multiple intravitreal injections, which nevertheless involves vision-threatening complications, as well as lack of real-time monitoring disease progression and timely assessment of therapeutic outcomes. To address this critical issue, we herein present a kind of theranostic agents made of peptide-functionalized silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs), suitable for simultaneous ocular neovascularization imaging and therapy. Typically, in addition to negligible toxicity and high specific binding ability to human retinal microvascular endothelial cells tube formation, the cyclo-(Arg-Gly-Asp-d-Tyr-Cys) ( c-(RGDyC))-conjugated SiNPs (SiNPs-RGD) features efficacious antiangiogenic ability in wound healing migration, transwell migration, transwell invasion, and tube formation assays. Taking advantage of these unique merits, we further employ the SiNPs-RGD for labeling angiogenic blood vessels and neovascularization suppression, demonstrating obvious inhibition of new blood vessels formation in mouse corneas. These results suggest the SiNPs-RGD as a novel class of high-quality theranostic probes is suitable for simultaneous diagnosis and treatment in ocular neovascular diseases.

Synergic Effect of Novel WS2 Carriers Holding Spherical Cobalt Ferrite @cubic Fe3O4 (WS2/s-CoFe2O4@c-Fe3O4) Nanocomposites in Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Photothermal Therapy for Ocular Treatments and Investigation of Corneal Endothelial Cell Migration

“…The representative photograph of the BCECs used as control and cells contain nanocomposites shows that the BCECs loaded the gap by their migration and not by stretching the cell via increasing the cell size. Furthermore, the result shows that the WS 2 /s-CoFe 2 O 4 @c-Fe 3 O 4 nanocomposites-treated BCECs attenuate the migration in transwell migration assay [55].…”

“…Nanomaterials 2020, 10, 2555 6 of 17 results could be supported by previous studies on investigation the effect of nanoceria conjugated with heparin that suppressed the migrations of cornea endothelial cells [54].The representative photograph of the BCECs used as control and cells contain nanocomposites shows that the BCECs loaded the gap by their migration and not by stretching the cell via increasing the cell size. Furthermore, the result shows that the WS2/s-CoFe2O4@c-Fe3O4 nanocomposites-treated BCECs attenuate the migration in transwell migration assay [55].…”

Fluorescent silicon nanoparticles-based nanotheranostic agents for rapid diagnosis and treatment of bacteria-induced keratitis

“…Consequently, a substantial room is reserved for developing novel strategies, those are suitable for rapid, noninvasive, and sensitive diagnosis of infectious keratitis. On the other hand, nanotheranostics that refers to the combination of diagnosis and therapy in a synergistic nanoplatform is emerging as a targeted and efficient approach to ocular diseases [8][9][10].…”

“…Specifically, through real-time tracking intracellular fluorescence signal of SiNPs, the dual-controlled release of siRNA and DOX was able to be investigated, revealing their time-dependent intracellular dissociation in multidrug-resistant breast cancer cells (MCF-7/ADR cells) [20]. More recently, one kind of SiNPs-based theranostic probes (i.e., functional peptides-modified SiNPs) was developed for ocular neovascularization imaging and therapy [9]. The high binding affinity of peptides (i.e., cyclo-(Arg-Gly-Asp-D-Tyr-Cys), c-(RGDyC)) to membrane receptors (e.g., integrin αvβ3) [22][23][24][25] allows RGD-conjugated SiNPs to specifically image and suppress ocular neovascularization.…”

One-Step Hydrothermal Synthesis of Yellow and Green Emitting Silicon Quantum Dots with Synergistic Effect

“…SiQDs exhibit tunable fluorescence emission properties, chemical stability, favorable biocompatibility, and low toxicity. Thus, they have shown promising potential in a wide range of fields, including lithium-ion batteries [1,2], biological imaging [3,4], and therapy [5,6].…”