title: A Versatile Near Infrared Light Triggered Dual-Photosensitizer for Synchronous Bioimaging and Photodynamic Therapy.
abstract: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) based on Tm3+-activated up-conversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) can effectively eliminate tumor cells by triggering inorganic photosensitizers to generate cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) upon tissue penetrating near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation. However, the partial use of the emitted lights from UCNPs greatly hinders their application. Here we develop a novel dual-photosensitizer nanoplatform by coating mesoporous graphitic-phase carbon nitride (g-C3N4) layer on UCNPs core, followed by attaching ultrasmall Au25nanoclusters and PEG molecules (named as UCNPs@g-C3N4-Au25-PEG). The ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) light and the intensive near infrared (NIR) emission from UCNPs can activate g-C3N4and excite Au25nanoclusters to produce ROS, respectively, and thus realize the simultaneous activation of two kinds of photosensitizers for enhanced the efficiency of PDT mediated by a single NIR light excitation. A markedly higher PDT efficacy for the dual-photosensitizer system than any single modality has been verified by the enhanced ROS production and in vitro and in vivo results. By combining the inherent multi-imaging properties (up-conversion, CT, and MRI) of UCNPs, an imaging guided therapeutic platform has been built. As the first report of dual-inorganic-photosensitizer PDT agent, our developed system may be of high potential in future NIR light induced PDT application.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Material Sciences and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University , Harbin 150001, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Lili
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Material Sciences and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University , Harbin 150001, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Material Sciences and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University , Harbin 150001, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yunlu
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4023-7320
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Material Sciences and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University , Harbin 150001, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Material Sciences and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University , Harbin 150001, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Guixin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Material Sciences and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University , Harbin 150001, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Shili
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gai
authors.affiliation: College of Sciences, Northeast Forestry University , Harbin 150050, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Technology, Xidan University , Xi'an 710071, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ruichan
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6360-6478
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Changchun 130022, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Chunxia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Material Sciences and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University , Harbin 150001, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Piaoping
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9555-1803
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D007259:Infrared Rays; D053758:Nanoparticles; D010778:Photochemotherapy; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species
chemical_list: D017319:Photosensitizing Agents; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species
keywords: Au25 nanoclusters; g-C3N4; imaging; photodynamic therapy; photosensitizer; up-conversion