Copper-Nitrogen-Coordinated Carbon Dots: Transformable Phototheranostics from Precise PTT/PDT to Post-Treatment Imaging-Guided PDT for Residual Tumor Cells.

Phototheranostics has attracted considerable attention in the fields of cancer diagnosis and treatment. However, the complete eradication of solid tumors using traditional phototheranostics is difficult because of the limited depth and range of laser irradiation. New phototheranostics enabling precise phototherapy and post-treatment imaging-guided programmed therapy for residual tumors is urgently required. Accordingly, this study developed a novel transformable phototheranostics by assembling hyaluronic acid (HA) with copper-nitrogen-coordinated carbon dots (CDs). In this transformable nanoplatform, named copper-nitrogen-CDs@HA, the HA component enables the specific targeting of cluster determinant (CD) 44-overexpressing tumor cells. In the tumor cells, redox glutathione converts Cu(II) (cupric ions) into Cu(I) (cuprous ions), which confers the novel transformable functionality to phototheranostics. Both in vitro and in vivo results reveal that the near-infrared-light-photoactivated CuII-N-CDs@HA could target CD44-overexpressing tumor cells for precise synergistic photothermal therapy and photodynamic therapy. This study is the first to observe that CuII-N-CDs@HA could escape from lysosomes and be transformed in situ into CuI-N-CDs@HA in tumor cells, with the d9 electronic configuration of Cu(II) changing to the d10 electronic configuration of Cu(I), which turns on their fluorescence and turns off their photothermal properties. This transformable phototheranostics could be used for post-treatment imaging-guided photodynamic therapy on residual tumor cells. Thus, the rationally designed copper-nitrogen-coordinated CDs offer a simple in situ transformation strategy for using multiple-stimulus-responsive precise phototheranostics in post-treatment monitoring of residual tumor cells and imaging-guided programmed therapy.

Full-spectrum responsive ZrO2-based phototheranostic agent for NIR-II photoacoustic imaging-guided cancer phototherapy.

Second near-infrared (NIR-II) window responsive phototheranostic agents have a precise spatiotemporal potential for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. In this study, a full-spectrum responsive ZrO2-based phototheranostic agent was found to achieve NIR-II photoacoustic (PA) imaging-guided tumour-targeting phototherapy. Initially, the ZrO2-based phototheranostic agent was fabricated through NaBH4 reduction to form boron-doped oxygen-deficient zirconia (ZrO2-x-B), an amino-functionalised SiO2 shell and a further covalent connection with hyaluronic acid (HA), namely, ZrO2-x-B@SiO2-HA. In the ZrO2-x-B@SiO2-HA system, the oxygen vacancy and boron doping resulted in full-spectrum absorption, enabling a high NIR-II photothermal conversion, high-resolution PA imaging ability and a remarkable production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The surface modification of HA provided ZrO2-x-B@SiO2-HA with water dispersibility and a targeting capability for CD44 overexpressed cancer cells. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo experiments showed that NIR-II activated ZrO2-x-B@SiO2-HA had a targeted photothermal/photodynamic effect for cancer elimination under the real-time guidance of NIR-II PAs. Hence, ZrO2-x-B@SiO2-HA displays a precise NIR-II radiation-activated phototheranostic potential for PA imaging-guided cancer-targeting photothermal/photodynamic therapy.