Gold Nanoclusters-Indocyanine Green Nanoprobes for Synchronous Cancer Imaging, Treatment, and Real-Time Monitoring Based on Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer

Well-designed gold nanoclusters-indocyanine green nanoprobes (Au NCs-INPs) have been developed by the conjugation of Au NC assemblies with indocyanine green (ICG) for the therapeutic real-time monitoring based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). The synthesized Au NCs-INPs demonstrated the improved cellular uptake and effective tumor targeting because of the enhanced permeability and retention effect and the gp60-mediated secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine combined transport pathway, suggesting excellent dual-modal near-infrared fluorescence and photoacoustic imaging. Moreover, the simultaneous photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) of Au NCs-INPs exhibited higher cancer cell killing and tumor removal efficiency than those of PDT or PTT alone. More importantly, a promising therapeutic monitoring strategy was performed based on FRET between Au NCs and ICG, suggesting that Au NCs-INPs could be utilized to evaluate the therapeutic response by real-time monitoring the change in Au NCs in fluorescence intensity together with ICG supersession. Therefore, Au NCs-INPs as a novel photosensitizer have great potentials for combined tumor imaging, therapy, and therapeutic monitoring in real time.

通过将金纳米簇组装体与吲哚菁绿（ICG）共轭，开发出了设计良好的金纳米簇 - 吲哚菁绿纳米探针（Au NCs - INPs），用于基于荧光共振能量转移（FRET）的治疗实时监测。合成的Au NCs - INPs由于增强的渗透和滞留效应以及gp60介导的富含半胱氨酸的酸性分泌蛋白联合转运途径，表现出改善的细胞摄取和有效的肿瘤靶向性，显示出优异的近红外荧光和光声双模态成像。此外，Au NCs - INPs同时进行的光动力疗法（PDT）和光热疗法（PTT）比单独的PDT或PTT表现出更高的癌细胞杀伤和肿瘤去除效率。更重要的是，基于Au NCs和ICG之间的FRET实施了一种有前景的治疗监测策略，这表明Au NCs - INPs可通过实时监测Au NCs荧光强度的变化以及ICG的代谢来评估治疗反应。因此，Au NCs - INPs作为一种新型光敏剂，在肿瘤联合成像、治疗以及实时治疗监测方面具有巨大潜力。