Manjie Zhang

Near-Infrared Light and pH-Responsive Polypyrrole@Polyacrylic acid/Fluorescent Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Imaging and Chemo-Photothermal Cancer Therapy.

We have rationally designed a new theranostic agent by coating near-infrared (NIR) light-absorbing polypyrrole (PPY) with poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), in which PAA acts as a nanoreactor and template, followed by growing small fluorescent silica nanoparticles (fSiO2 NPs) inside the PAA networks, resulting in the formation of polypyrrole@polyacrylic acid/fluorescent mesoporous silica (PPY@PAA/fmSiO2 ) core-shell NPs. Meanwhile, DOX-loaded PPY@PAA/fmSiO2 NPs as pH and NIR dual-sensitive drug delivery vehicles were employed for fluorescence imaging and chemo-photothermal synergetic therapy in vitro and in vivo. The results demonstrate that the PPY@PAA/fmSiO2 NPs show high in vivo tumor uptake by the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect after intravenous injection as revealed by in vivo fluorescence imaging, which is very helpful for visualizing the location of the tumor. Moreover, the obtained NPs inhibit tumor growth (95.6 % of tumors were eliminated) because of the combination of chemo-photothermal therapy, which offers a synergistically improved therapeutic outcome compared with the use of either therapy alone. Therefore, the present study provides new insights into developing NIR and pH-stimuli responsive PPY-based multifunctional platform for cancer theranostics.

Facile synthesis of polypyrrole@metal–organic framework core–shell nanocomposites for dual-mode imaging and synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy of cancer cells

In our work, we report a facile approach to fabricate well-dispersed polypyrrole@metal-organic framework (PPy@MOF) core-shell nanocomposites (NCs) with a polypyrrole (PPy) core and an MIL-100(Fe) shell. The adsorbed Fe(iii) ions on the as-fabricated PPy surface were utilized as reactive sites for further growth of the MIL-100(Fe) in the presence of trimesic acid (H3btc). The resulting NCs exhibited strong absorption in the near infrared (NIR) region and possessed an excellent photothermal efficiency of ∼40% resulting from the PPy core. The MOF structure based on Fe(iii) carboxylate materials held great ability for storage/delivery of the hydrophilic anti-cancer drug, doxorubicin (DOX). The released DOX continuously increased due to the damage of the shell at low pH values. When the DOX-loaded PPy@MIL-100(Fe) NCs were exposed to NIR irradiation, owing to the heat produced by the NCs, the local temperature increased, resulting in a faster release of DOX from the MIL-100(Fe) shell. Furthermore, PPy@MIL-100(Fe) NCs were successfully employed for dual-mode magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)/photoacoustic imaging (PAI) and synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy of cancer cells. Therefore, our work could encourage further study in the construction of a multifunctional platform using different MOF nanomaterials for cancer theranostics.

A designed synthesis of multifunctional Fe3O4@carbon/zinc phosphate nanoparticles for simultaneous imaging and synergic chemo-photothermal cancer therapy

A simple, novel, and reproducible synthetic strategy was developed to fabricate multifunctional Fe3O4@carbon/zinc phosphate core-shell nanoparticles (Fe3O4@C/ZnP NPs), which were employed as pH/near infrared (NIR)-responsive drug carriers for simultaneous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and synergistic chemo-photothermal cancer therapy in vitro.

Designed Synthesis of Au/Fe3O4@C Janus Nanoparticles for Dual-Modal Imaging and Actively Targeted Chemo-Photothermal Synergistic Therapy of Cancer Cells.

Elaborately designed novel multifunctional Janus nanoparticles (JNPs) have attracted considerable attention owing to their anisotropic surface properties and various functionalities that allow them to house several components for the detection and targeting of cancer cells. In this work, we report a novel and facile approach to synthesize Au/Fe3 O4 @C JNPs, which were further selectively functionalized with amino-poly(ethylene glycol)thiol (NH2 -PEG-SH) and folic acid (FA) on the exposed Au domains to achieve high contrast for X-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging, excellent stability, good biocompatibility, as well as cancer cell-specific targeting. Meanwhile, the other Fe3 O4 @C sides with mesoporous structure served as a drug delivery vehicle for doxorubicin (DOX), an efficient photothermal therapy (PTT) agent, and a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging contrast agent. Taking these features together, these unique multifunctional JNPs provide an intriguing nanoplatform for dual-modal CT and MR imaging-guided actively targeted chemo-photothermal synergistic cancer therapy.

Designed Synthesis of Lipid-Coated Polyacrylic Acid/Calcium Phosphate Nanoparticles as Dual pH-Responsive Drug-Delivery Vehicles for Cancer Chemotherapy

Herein, we report a facile strategy to prepare supported lipid-bilayer-coated polyacrylic acid/calcium phosphate nanoparticles (designated as PAA/CaP@SLB NPs) as a new dual pH-responsive drug-delivery platform for cancer chemotherapy. The synthesized PAA/CaP NPs exhibited both a high payload of doxorubicin (DOX) and dual pH-responsive drug-release properties. Additionally, the coated lipid bilayer had the ability to enhance the cellular uptake of PAA/CaP NPs without affecting the pH-responsive drug release. Moreover, the blank PAA/CaP@SLB NPs exhibited excellent biocompatibility and the DOX-loaded PAA/CaP@SLB NPs markedly increased the cellular accumulation of DOX and its cytotoxic effects on HepG-2 cells. Furthermore, when used to evaluate the in vivo therapeutic efficacy in mice with the hepatocarcinoma cell line (H-22), the DOX-loaded PAA/CaP@SLB NPs exhibited superior inhibition of tumor growth compared with the free DOX group. Thus, PAA/CaP@SLB NPs are a promising drug-delivery vehicle to increase the therapeutic efficacy of anticancer drugs.

A designed synthesis of multifunctional carbon nanoframes for simultaneous imaging and synergistic chemo-photothermal cancer therapy

Owing to their small size and unique optical properties, carbon nanomaterials have attracted considerable attention due to their promising biomedical applications. In this work, we report a silica (SiO2) protected calcination strategy to fabricate mesoporous carbon nanoframes (mCNFs) from zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) precursors. The resulting mCNFs have many merits including drug loading capability, excellent photothermal efficiency (21%), dual pH/near-infrared (NIR) responsive controlled drug release and good biocompatibility. When 5-FU-loaded mCNFs were subjected to NIR irradiation, a burst release of 5-FU occurs owing to the heat produced by the mCNFs. Furthermore, mCNFs are successfully employed for photoacoustic imaging (PAI) and synergistic chemo-photothermal cancer therapy. Taken together, mCNFs can be developed as a promising theranostic agent for cancer treatment.

Dual drug delivery and sequential release by amphiphilic Janus nanoparticles for liver cancer theranostics

Co-delivery of two drugs with diverse physicochemical properties and specific administration order for cancer theranostics are vitally important for drug resistance conquering and side effects reducing. Consequently, we explored a unique amphiphilic PCL-AuNC/Fe(OH)3-PAA Janus nanoparticle (JNP) to simultaneously preserve the hydrophilic drug (doxorubicin) and hydrophobic drug (docetaxel) in their distinct domains. Owing to their extraordinary heterostructure and independent pH and NIR sensitive properties, the optional sequential drug release by a single inorganic JNP was realized for the first time, and the results presented the synchronous release of two drugs had 5% better therapeutic effect. In addition, the excellent computed X-ray tomography/magnetic resonance (CT/MR) imaging capabilities from AuNC and Fe(OH)3 suggested our JNPs could effectively guide the cancer therapy. Furthermore, the mice treated with dual drug loaded PCL-AuNC/Fe(OH)3-PAA JNPs under near infrared (NIR) laser irradiation showed better tumor inhibition than solo drug, cocktail and dual drug treated groups, indicating the effectivity and significance of combined cancer therapy.