title: Smart Probe for Tracing Cancer Therapy: Selective Cancer Cell Detection, Image-Guided Ablation, and Prediction of Therapeutic Response In Situ.
abstract: Integrated diagnosis and therapy systems that can offer traceable cancer therapy are in high demand for personalized medicine. Herein, a pH-responsive polymeric probe containing tetraphenylsilole (TPS) with aggregation-induced emission characteristics and pheophorbide A (PheA) photosensitizer (PS) with aggregation-caused quenching property for tracing the whole process of cancer therapy is reported. At physiological conditions (pH 7.4), the probe self-assembles into nanoparticles (NPs), which show weak fluorescence of PheA with low phototoxicity, but strong green fluorescence from TPS for probe self-tracking. Upon uptake by cancer cells and entrapment in lysosomes (pH 5.0), the NPs disassemble to yield weak emission of TPS but strong red fluorescence of PheA with restored phototoxicity for PS activation monitoring. Upon light irradiation, the generated reactive oxygen species can cause lysosomal disruption to trigger cell apoptosis. Meanwhile, the probe leaks to the cytoplasm (pH 7.2), where the TPS fluorescence is restored for in situ visualization of the therapeutic response. The probe design thus represents a novel strategy for traceable cancer therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore, 117585.
authors.forename: Youyong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Division of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Ryan T K
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Kwok
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Division of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.|SCUT-HKUST Joint Research Laboratory, Guangdong Innovative Research Team, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
authors.forename: Ben Zhong
authors.initials: BZ
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore, 117585.|Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 3 Research Link, Singapore, 117602.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D003600:Cytosol / Q000378:metabolism; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008247:Lysosomes / Q000378:metabolism; D061986:MCF-7 Cells; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000628:therapy; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D011107:Polylysine / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D057285:Precision Medicine; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents; D011108:Polymers; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D002734:Chlorophyll; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D011107:Polylysine; C032623:pheophorbide a
keywords: aggregation-caused quenching; aggregation-induced emission; fluorescent probes; pH-responsive polymers; traceable cancer therapy