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Specific photoacoustic cavitation through nucleus targeted nanoparticles for high-efficiency tumor therapy

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Abstract

As a new type of cancer treatment, photoacoustic (PA) therapy is based on PA shockwave for rapid, selective and effective killing of cancer cells. The nucleus has been widely used as a target for tumor therapy, which has obtained a very considerable therapeutic effect. In situ destruction of tumor cell nucleus by photoacoustic therapy has not been studied. In this paper, a highly efficient nucleus-targeted photoacoustic theranostic polymer was developed for fluorescence and photoacoustic dual-mode imaging-guided PA therapy. The prepared polymer consists of nucleus targeting TAT peptide (TAT: YGRKKRRQRRR), hydrophilic chain poly (N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (PDMA), and near-infrared (NIR) light absorbing agent (hCyR), which can self-assemble to form nanoparticles of approximately 28 nm (denoted as TAT-PDMA-hCyR NPs). The designed nanoparticles show excellent nucleus targeting and tumor cell death (up to 80%) caused by DNA damage under pulsed laser irradiation compared to non-nucleus target counterpart PDMA-hCyR NPs without TAT peptide in vitro. As expected, the fluorescence and PA dual-mode imaging observed that TAT-PDMA-hCyR NPs were able to passively target and enrich in tumors, providing an experimental basis for in vivo treatment and thus ensuring a significant tumor inhibition rate (about 92%). In conclusion, this study provides a new and practicable method for the development of nucleus-targeting nanoparticles as potential theranostic agent for in vivo cancer imaging and therapy.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81630046) and the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province (Nos. 2015B020233016 and 2014B020215003)

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  1. Yuan Wang and Guangle Niu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MOE Key Laboratory of Laser Life Science & Institute of Laser Life Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China

    Yuan Wang, Shaodong Zhai, Wenjia Zhang & Da Xing

  2. College of Biophotonics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China

    Yuan Wang, Shaodong Zhai, Wenjia Zhang & Da Xing

  3. Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Guangle Niu

  4. Department of Pharmacology & Pharmacy, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China

    Guangle Niu

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  1. Yuan Wang
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Correspondence to Da Xing.

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Wang, Y., Niu, G., Zhai, S. et al. Specific photoacoustic cavitation through nucleus targeted nanoparticles for high-efficiency tumor therapy. Nano Res. 13, 719–728 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2681-4

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