Supramolecular Nanodiscs Self‐Assembled from Non‐Ionic Heptamethine Cyanine for Imaging‐Guided Cancer Photothermal Therapy

Abstract

Supramolecular nanomedicines, which use supramolecular design to improve the precision and effectiveness of pharmaceutical practice and optimize pharmacokinetic profiles, have gathered momentum to battle cancer and other incurable diseases, for which traditional small‐molecular and macromolecular drugs are less effective. However, the lack of clinical approval of supramolecular assembly‐based medicine underscores the challenges facing this field. A 2D nanodisc‐based supramolecular structure is formed by a non‐ionic heptamethine cyanine (Cy7) dye, which generates fluorescence self‐quenching but unique photothermal and photoacoustic properties. These Cy7‐based supramolecular nanodiscs exhibit passive tumor‐targeting properties to not only visualize the tumor by near‐infrared fluorescence imaging and photoacoustic tomography but also induce photothermal tumor ablation under irradiation. Due to the nature of organic small molecule, they induce undetectable acute toxicity in mice and can be eliminated by the liver without extrahepatic metabolism. These findings suggest that the self‐assembling cyanine discs represent a new paradigm in drug delivery as single‐component supramolecular nanomedicines that are self‐delivering and self‐formulating, and provide a platform technology for synergistic clinical cancer imaging and therapy.

Target-driven supramolecular self-assembly for selective amyloid-β photooxygenation against Alzheimer's disease

“…1f) of PKNPs, which implied that the light energy absorbed by PKNPs could be transformed into heat. 41,42 As shown in Fig. S6, † the temperature of the PKNP solution increased monotonically with radiation time, laser intensity, and PKNP concentration, demonstrating the excellent photothermal properties of PKNPs.…”

Stimuli-Responsive Polymeric Nanocarriers for Drug Delivery, Imaging, and Theragnosis

“…In order to mollify these limitations, a wide variety of cyanines were incorporated into different polymer formulations with the goal of enhancing its bioavailability and durability. There are several studies of NIR fluorescent probes insertion in lipooligosaccharides [ 225 ], water-soluble carboxylated N-acylated poly(amino ester)-based comb polymers [ 226 ], supramolecular nanodiscs self-assembled [ 227 ], polymer micelle [ 228 ] and mitochondrion- and nucleus-acting polymeric nanoagents [ 229 ]. For instance, Yang et al (2020) constructed a multi- and cascaded switchable polymer nanocarrier that self-assembled from nano polymers for imaging and anticancer treatment.…”

Light: A Magical Tool for Controlled Drug Delivery

“…Reproduced with permission. [ 174 ] Copyright 2020, Wiley‐VCH. D) Schematic illustration of fabrication of eukaryotic–prokaryotic vesicles coated poly(lactic‐ co ‐glycolic acid)‐indocyanine green moiety‐implanted eukaryotic–prokaryotic vesicle nanovaccine.…”

“…Although photothermal organic polymer nanoparticles have shown great potential for photothermal treatment, common polymer nanocomposites show slow metabolism in organisms and are primarily taken up by the reticuloendothelial systems, [ 170 ] which may limit their potential clinical applications. Therefore, a wide spectrum of small‐molecule organic dyes, such as IR780, [ 171 ] IR820, [ 172 ] cyanine, [ 173 ] heptamethine cyanine (Cy7), [ 174 ] ICG, [ 175 ] phthalocyanine naphthalocyanine, [ 170c ] Prussian blue, [ 176 ] BODIPY derivatives, [ 177 ] pigment biliverdin, [ 178 ] methylenebisacrylamide, [ 179 ] etc. have served as attractive candidates for photothermal applications.…”