Volume 134, Issue 7 e202112237
Forschungsartikel

An Activatable Hybrid Organic–Inorganic Nanocomposite as Early Evaluation System of Therapy Effect

Qinrui Fu

Qinrui Fu

MOE Key Laboratory for Analytical Science of Food Safety and Biology, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108 China

Search for more papers by this author
Hongjuan Feng

Hongjuan Feng

MOE Key Laboratory for Analytical Science of Food Safety and Biology, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108 China

Search for more papers by this author
Lichao Su

Lichao Su

MOE Key Laboratory for Analytical Science of Food Safety and Biology, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108 China

Search for more papers by this author
Xuan Zhang

Xuan Zhang

MOE Key Laboratory for Analytical Science of Food Safety and Biology, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108 China

Search for more papers by this author
Luntao Liu

Luntao Liu

MOE Key Laboratory for Analytical Science of Food Safety and Biology, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108 China

Search for more papers by this author
Prof. Fengfu Fu

Prof. Fengfu Fu

MOE Key Laboratory for Analytical Science of Food Safety and Biology, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108 China

Search for more papers by this author
Prof. Huanghao Yang

Prof. Huanghao Yang

MOE Key Laboratory for Analytical Science of Food Safety and Biology, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108 China

Search for more papers by this author
Prof. Jibin Song

Corresponding Author

Prof. Jibin Song

MOE Key Laboratory for Analytical Science of Food Safety and Biology, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108 China

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 08 December 2021
Citations: 3

Abstract

Delays in evaluating cancer response to radiotherapy (RT) usually reduce therapy effect or miss the right time for treatment optimization. Hence, exploring timely and accurate methods enabling one to gain insights of RT response are highly desirable. In this study, we have developed an apoptosis enzyme (caspase-3) activated nanoprobe for early evaluation of RT efficacy. The nanoprobe bridged the nanogapped gold nanoparticles (AuNNPs) and the second near-infrared window (NIR-II) fluorescent (FL) molecules (IR-1048) through a caspase-3 specific peptide sequence (DEVD) (AuNNP@DEVD-IR1048). After X-ray irradiation, caspase-3 was activated to cut DEVD, turning on both NIR-II FL and PA imaging signals. The increased NIR-II FL/PA signals exhibited a positive correlation with the content of caspase-3. Moreover, the amount of the activated caspase-3 was negatively correlated with the tumor size. The results underscore the role of the caspase-3 activated by X-ray irradiation in bridging the imaging signals variation and tumor inhibition rate. Overall, activatable NIR-II FL/PA imaging was successfully used to timely predict and evaluate the RT efficacy. The evaluation system based on biomarker-triggered living imaging has the capacity to guide treatment decisions for numerous cancer types.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.