Wen Xiu Ren

A pellet-type optical nanomaterial of silica-based naphthalimide–DPA–Cu(II) complexes: recyclable fluorescence detection of pyrophosphate

A pellet-type nanomaterial prepared from a mesoporous silica-immobilized naphthalimide-DPA-Cu(II) complex (MSIND-Cu) is investigated as a selective fluorescent chemosensor for PPi detection with a large off-on fluorescence change, low detection limit, short response time and a broad pH test range.

Highly selective two-photon imaging of cysteine in cancerous cells and tissues

Abnormal concentrations of Cys have been reported to be implicated in various health problems, including cancer, neuropathy, and cardiomyopathy. We present a novel two-photon fluorescent probe for the specific recognition of cysteine over homocysteine and glutathione, and the bioapplication of this probe for the imaging of live cancerous cells and thick tissues.

A fluorescent probe to detect thiol-containing amino acids in solid tumors

Early detecting of cancer is critical to provide proper treatment and to improve survival of patients. Here, we reported a highly sensitive ratiometric (yellow emission (550 nm) to blue emission (496 nm)) fluorescent probe 1 developed for detection of thiol-containing amino acids. This probe successfully eliminates interference from background autofluorescence, and discriminates between human carcinoma and normal cells by detecting intracellular thiol levels in living cells (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the ability of the probe to identify growing tumors by measuring GSH in the tissues as well as in the fresh blood of tumor xenograft mice. Additionally, the ratio of the emission intensity at two different wavelengths can provide quantitative analysis of glutathione (GSH) in the living systems. It suggests that it represents a promising prognostic and diagnostic marker, with extensive and simple potential clinical applications.

COX-2 Inhibition mediated anti-angiogenic activatable prodrug potentiates cancer therapy in preclinical models

Anti-angiogenesis, i.e., blocking the angiogenic pathway, has been considered as an important component in current cancer therapeutic modalities. However, the associated benefits have proven to be modest as tumor angiogenesis and regrowth persist, probably due to other ill-defined complex angiogenic mechanisms. Herein, we developed an indomethacin (IMC) incorporating system to mediate hypoxia responsive prodrug (TA) and diagnostic agent (DA) in cancer theranostic applications. Cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) elevated expression in several cancer types is closely associated with severe tumor supporting vascularization factors. Our strategy utilizing COX-2 inhibition augmented the anti-angiogenetic induced hypoxia responsive prodrug activation well. Both in vitro and in vivo results proved that DA and TA exhibited specificity towards COX-2 positive (+ve) HeLa and A549 cancer cell lines and activation under hypoxic conditions. Compared with controls (R1, and anticancer drug SN-38), TA displayed prolonged tumor retention and enhanced therapeutic efficacy in xenograft mouse models at a reduced dosage. Our results significantly highlighted the importance of COX-2 blockade mediated anti-angiogenesis in complementing the hypoxia-responsive drug delivery systems (DDSs) and could to beneficial for the rapid development of more efficacious antitumor therapeutics.