Near-Infrared Emission CuInS/ZnS Quantum Dots: All-in-One Theranostic Nanomedicines with Intrinsic Fluorescence/Photoacoustic Imaging for Tumor Phototherapy.
Many theranostic nanomedicines (NMs) have been fabricated by packaging imaging and therapeutic moieties together. However, concerns about their potential architecture instability and pharmacokinetic complexity remain major obstacles to their clinical translation. Herein, we demonstrated the use of CuInS/ZnS quantum dots (ZCIS QDs) as "all-in-one" theranostic nanomedicines that possess intrinsic imaging and therapeutic capabilities within a well-defined nanostructure. ZCIS QDs were exploited for multispectral optical tomography (MSOT) imaging and synergistic PTT/PDT therapy. Due to the intrinsic fluorescence/MSOT imaging ability of the ZCIS QDs, their size-dependent distribution profiles were successfully visualized at tumor sites in vivo. Our results showed that the smaller nanomedicines (ZCIS NMs-25) have longer tumor retention times, higher tumor uptake, and deeper tumor penetration than the larger nanomedicines (ZCIS NMs-80). The ability of ZCIS QDs to mediate photoinduced tumor ablation was also explored. Our results verified that under a single 660 nm laser irradiation, the ZCIS NMs had simultaneous inherent photothermal and photodynamic effects, resulting in high therapy efficacy against tumors. In summary, the ZCIS QDs as "all-in-one" versatile nanomedicines allow high therapeutic efficacy as well as noninvasively monitoring tumor site localization profiles by imaging techniques and thus hold great potential as precision theranostic nanomedicines.
School of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Tianjin University, Tianjin Engineering Center for Micro-Nano Biomaterials and Detection-Treatment Technology , Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China.|Laboratory of Controllable Nanopharmaceuticals, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Center for Excellence in Nanoscience and CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China , Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China.
Guoxian
G
Lv
Laboratory of Controllable Nanopharmaceuticals, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Center for Excellence in Nanoscience and CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China , Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China.
Weisheng
W
Guo
Laboratory of Controllable Nanopharmaceuticals, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Center for Excellence in Nanoscience and CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China , Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China.
Wei
W
Zhang
Laboratory of Controllable Nanopharmaceuticals, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Center for Excellence in Nanoscience and CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China , Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China.
Tingbin
T
Zhang
Laboratory of Controllable Nanopharmaceuticals, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Center for Excellence in Nanoscience and CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China , Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China.
Shuyi
S
Li
College of Chemistry & Environmental Science, Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Diagnosis of Ministry of Education, Chemical Biology Key Laboratory of Hebei Province, Hebei University , Baoding 071002, People's Republic of China.
Shizhu
S
Chen
Laboratory of Controllable Nanopharmaceuticals, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Center for Excellence in Nanoscience and CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China , Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China.
Ahmed Shaker
AS
Eltahan
Laboratory of Controllable Nanopharmaceuticals, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Center for Excellence in Nanoscience and CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China , Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China.
Dongliang
D
Wang
Laboratory of Controllable Nanopharmaceuticals, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Center for Excellence in Nanoscience and CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China , Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China.
Yuqing
Y
Wang
College of Chemistry & Environmental Science, Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Diagnosis of Ministry of Education, Chemical Biology Key Laboratory of Hebei Province, Hebei University , Baoding 071002, People's Republic of China.
Jinchao
J
Zhang
Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Department of Radiology, Howard University , Washington, D.C. 20060, United States.
Paul C
PC
Wang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Tianjin University, Tianjin Engineering Center for Micro-Nano Biomaterials and Detection-Treatment Technology , Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China.
Jin
J
Chang
Laboratory of Controllable Nanopharmaceuticals, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Center for Excellence in Nanoscience and CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China , Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China.
Xing-Jie
XJ
Liang
CuInS/ZnS quantum dots; multispectral optical tomography; photoacoustic imaging; photodynamic therapy; photothermal therapy