title: ACPI Conjugated Gold Nanorods as Nanoplatform for Dual Image Guided Activatable Photodynamic and Photothermal Combined Therapy In Vivo.
abstract: The nanoplatform GNR-ACPP-PpIX (designated as GNR-ACPI) is designed for dual image guided combined activatable photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT). In GNR-ACPI, gold nanorods (GNRs) are modified with a protoporphyrin (PpIX, a PDT agent) conjugated activatable cell penetrating peptide (ACPP), which consists of the matrix metalloproteinases-2 (MMP-2) sensitive peptide sequence GPLGLAG. First, the photoactivity of PpIX is effectively quenched by GNRs due to the strong near infrared region light absorption of GNR and the special "U type" structure of ACPP induced close contact between PpIX and GNR. However, once arriving at the tumor site, the GPLGLAG sequence is hydrolyzed by the MMP-2 overexpressed by tumor cells, resulting in the release of the residual cell membrane penetrating peptide (CPP) attached PpIX (CPP-PpIX) with the recovery of photoactivity of PpIX. In addition, with the help of CPP, more efficient cellular uptake of PpIX by tumor cells can be achieved, which will greatly improve the PDT efficacy. Moreover, the GNR can also be utilized for photothermic imaging as well as PTT for tumors. It is found that the combination of PTT and PDT under the guidance of dual-mode imaging greatly enhances the antitumor effects, while possessing negligible systematic toxicity.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biomedical Polymers of Ministry of Education and Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wen-Xiu
authors.initials: WX
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biomedical Polymers of Ministry of Education and Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Li-Han
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biomedical Polymers of Ministry of Education and Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Shi-Ying
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biomedical Polymers of Ministry of Education and Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biomedical Polymers of Ministry of Education and Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Guo-Feng
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biomedical Polymers of Ministry of Education and Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, P. R. China.|The Institute for Advanced Studies, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xian-Zheng
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D057846:Cell-Penetrating Peptides / Q000737:chemistry; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry*; D010778:Photochemotherapy / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D057846:Cell-Penetrating Peptides; D006046:Gold
keywords: activatable cell-penetrating peptide; photodynamic therapy; photothermal therapy; tumor target