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Copper oxide (CuO) is considered a promising material for pseudocapacitor electrodes in supercapacitors. In this study, binder-free CuO/Ni7S6 composite electrode materials were prepared on nickel foam using a two-step electrodeposition method. The test results show that the CuO/Ni7S6-1:1–20 composite material has the best electrochemical performance. It displays an areal capacitance of 8644.3 mF cm−2 at a current density is 1 mA cm−2. The assembled CuO/Ni7S6-1:1–20‖PVDF/KOH‖CuO/Ni7S6-1:1–20 devices can reach a maximum energy density (Ea) and power density (Pa) of 112.5 μW h cm−2 and 4200 μW cm−2 respectively while retaining 58.3% of their initial capacitance after 3000 charge/discharge cycles. Two devices connected in series can power an LED lamp for up to 15 minutes. The results demonstrate that CuO/Ni7S6 materials have significant potential for application in supercapacitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photothermal therapy (PTT) exhibits an excellent therapeutic effect in cancer treatment, but some cancers are still facing rapid recurrence due to the presence of heat-resistant cells, which express heat shock proteins (HSP) to defend against hyperthermia. Inspired by optogenetics, we firstly designed a caged TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) expressing plasmid under HSP70 protomer (HSP70-TRAIL) as the thermal-activated gene therapy agent to induce the apoptosis of heat resistant cells. Then, the caged HSP70-TRAIL was decorated on the surface of the photothermal agent (semiconducting nanoparticles, SPNs) through electrostatic adsorption to obtain SPN@HSP70-TRAIL-GFP (SPNHT). Under 1064 nm near-infrared second region (NIR-II) laser irradiation, the SPNHT acted as an emerging photothermal agent for PTT. Importantly, the caged HSP70-TRAIL could be further activated by PTT to express TRAIL on demand to concurrently kill survival cells for overcoming the problem of tumor recurrence after PTT. Both in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated that the SPNHT nano-system with the ability of NIR-II photothermal-triggered TRAIL in situ expression possessed an admirable synergistic anti-cancer efficacy for HCC. This work offers new tactics for effective treatment of cancer, which showed a great significance for reducing the rate of cancer recurrence after PTT treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We prepared novel conjugated polymer based NIR-II nanoparticles, which display extremely high photothermal conversion efficiency (65%). Both in vitro and in vivo investigations revealed that the as-prepared nanoparticles exhibit excellent theranostic properties including an extremely high cancer cell killing ability, admirable tumor elimination efficiency (100%) and a remarkable photoacoustic imaging contrast enhancing ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is emerging as a powerful tool for the treatment of cancer. However, typical photothermal agents are excited by conventional near-infrared light (NIR-I, 700–900 nm), which leads to low tissue penetration and significantly hinders their further application. Compared with NIR-I light, the second NIR optical window light (NIR-II, 1000–1700 nm) can remarkably increase the tissue penetration depth; however, photothermal agents in this optical window are extremely limited and need to be further explored. Herein, we prepared Ti2O3 nanoparticles through a ball milling method, and to further improve their biocompatibility and targeting efficiency, the Ti2O3 nanoparticles were modified with hyaluronic acid. The as-prepared nanoparticles exhibited strong light absorption and excellent photothermal conversion efficiency in the NIR-II optical window. Both in vitro and in vivo studies clearly demonstrated that the Ti2O3@HA nanoparticles not only exhibit high biocompatibility and photostability, but also can be efficiently taken up by cancer cells and display excellent anticancer ability in the NIR-II region. Thus, this study provides a novel photothermal agent for PTT in the NIR-II optical window, which may further advance cancer photo-treatment in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We designed novel diketopyrrolopyrrole polymer based nanoparticles (DPP-IID-FA), which exhibited strong light absorption and excellent photothermal conversion in the NIR optical window, and displayed high biocompatibility and photostability. Furthermore, our nanoparticles could be efficiently uptaken by cancer cells and exhibited outstanding anticancer ability both in vitro and in vivo under NIR-II laser irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have developed a cancer cell specific targeting nanocomplex which combines photodynamic therapy with chemotherapy through precisely responding to the intracellular tumor-related mRNA. The combined treatment of these two modalities showed significantly enhanced therapeutic effects on cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly efficient accumulation of nanoscaled theranostic agents in a tumor site is crucial for cancer diagnosis and therapy. In this study, we designed a drug-loaded charge-switchable nanohybrid system (HNPs–DA) triggered by the low pH value of tumor microenvironment (pH 6.5) to enhance the uptake efficiency of NPs in cancer cells; the nanohybrid could exhibit T2-MR imaging enhancement and chemotherapy ability, ascribed to the loaded magnetite nanocluster (MNC) and paclitaxel (PTX), respectively. The HNPs–DA comprises two distinct functional components: (1) a biocompatible amphiphilic polymer (Pluronic F127) to act as a nanovehicle for MNC and PTX after self-assembly in an aqueous solution; and (2) a hydrophilic polymeric shell derived from stearoyl-polyethylenimine-2,3-dimethylmalefic anhydride (SC-g-PEI-DMMA). SC-g-PEI-DMMA switches the surface charge of the HNPs–DA from negative to positive by diminishing the anionic part of DMMA and sequentially recovering the cationic instinct of the PEI part at pH 6.5, which could facilitate the cellular uptake and therefore enhance the theranostic effects. In vitro studies demonstrated a darker T2-MRI image in the HNPs–DA-treated HepG2 cells at pH 6.5 as compared to that at pH 7.4. Moreover, CCK8 assay indicated that HNPs–DA exhibited a much higher cytotoxicity against HepG2 cells at pH 6.5, and flow cytometric analysis suggested that the cell death induced by HNPs–DA occurred via apoptosis, which was detected by Annexin V antibody and propidium iodide staining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable efforts have been made to incorporate both diagnostic and therapeutic functions into a single nanoplatform for biomedical applications. Herein, we report the synthesis and characterization of magnetite-loaded polymeric micelles (referred as SCDP-LA) for targeted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and photothermal therapy of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), by using an amphiphilic biocompatible polymer of lactobionic acid-modified 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-[amino(polyethylene glycol)-2000] (DSPE-PEG-LA) for the micelle formation. A cluster of SPION@Cu2−xS is densely encapsulated inside the hydrophobic core of the micelles, which offers both highly sensitive MRI and an excellent photothermal effect. The LA-modified PEG outlayer makes this micelle stable in aqueous solution. Due to the targeting ligand of LA, the SCDP-LA clusters could be selectively internalized into the hepatocellular cell line (HepG2 cells) but not into HeLa cells. In addition, the targeted ability of the SCDP-LA aqueous solution was further confirmed by enhanced MRI with a shorter T2 relaxation time in HepG2 cells. Meanwhile, it also demonstrates excellent performance to produce significantly enhanced local photothermal killing efficiency against HepG2 cells under NIR laser irradiation. In summary, the present multifunctional nanoplatform based on SPION@Cu2−xS nanoclusters will be a promising theranostic platform for targeted MRI-guided photothermal therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incorporating multiple imaging modalities and simultaneous therapeutic functions together into one single nano-formulation is of great importance for developing high-performance clinical-translatable theranostic agents. Herein, we fabricated multifunctional lipid-micelles incorporated with semiconducting polymer dots and a photosensitizer (referred as Pdots/Ce6@lipid–Gd–DOTA micelles) for combined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)/photoacoustic imaging (PAI) and photodynamic (PDT)/photothermal (PTT) dual-modal therapy that induced by a single laser to achieve enhanced cancer therapeutic efficiency. The Pdots/Ce6@lipid–Gd–DOTA micelles with excellent water dispersibility were comprised of a core with poly[2,6-(4,4-bis-(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta[2,1-b;3,4-b′]-dithiophene)-alt-4,7-(2,1,3-benzo-thiadiazole)] dots (Pdots) and Ce6 molecules inside, and a lipid–PEG outlayer conjugated with gadolinium-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid. The prepared Pdots/Ce6@lipid–Gd–DOTA micelles exhibited extremely low cytotoxicity, and had excellent MR- and PA-imaging contrast-enhancement ability, which could synchronously offer anatomical information and morphological information of tumors. Moreover, both Pdots and Ce6 photosensitizer, encapsulated inside the lipid–Gd–DOTA micelles, exhibited high NIR absorption at 670 nm and were applied to combine photothermal and photodynamic therapy simultaneously to achieve enhanced synergistic cancer therapeutic efficiency both in vitro and in vivo. In summary, our studies demonstrated that Pdots/Ce6@lipid–Gd–DOTA micelles with multi-diagnosis modalities and simultaneous dual-modal photo-therapy functions might be a potential interesting theranostic platform for tumor treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We designed a novel aptamer based biosensor (aptasensor) for ultrasensitive detection of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) through resonance energy transfer (RET). The ATP aptamer was modified with Cy3 at the 3′ end, and a green quantum dot (525) was attached to the 5′ end of its complementary sequence respectively. The ATP aptamer and its complementary sequence could assemble into a duplex structure in the absence of target ATP, and then decrease the distance between the quantum dot and Cy3 which could produce significant RET signal. Upon ATP binding, the ATP aptamer could dissociate with its complementary sequence and then increase the distance between the quantum dot and Cy3 which would significantly decrease the RET signal. Therefore, the ATP detection could be easily achieved through detection of the fluorescence intensity ratio between 525 nm and 560 nm. The results show that the emission fluorescence intensity ratio of 525/560 is linearly related to the logarithmic concentration of ATP. The linear range of this aptasensor is from 0.1 nM to 1 μM, and the detection limit is lower down to 0.01 nM. Excellent selectivity of this aptasensor for ATP has been demonstrated through the detection of thymidine triphosphate (TTP), cytidine triphosphate (CTP), guanosine triphosphate (GTP) and adenosine diphosphate (ADP) respectively as control. The method we described here could easily detect ATP with excellent selectivity, linearity and sensitivity down to the nanomolar range, as well as avoid photobleaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is emerging as a powerful tool for the treatment of cancer. However, typical photothermal agents are excited by conventional near-infrared light (NIR-I, 700-900 nm), which leads to low tissue penetration and significantly hinders their further application. Compared with NIR-I light, the second NIR optical window light (NIR-II, 1000-1700 nm) can remarkably increase the tissue penetration depth; however, photothermal agents in this optical window are extremely limited and need to be further explored. Herein, we prepared Ti 2 O 3 nanoparticles through a ball milling method, and to further improve their biocompatibility and targeting efficiency, the Ti 2 O 3 nanoparticles were modified with hyaluronic acid. The as-prepared nanoparticles exhibited strong light absorption and excellent photothermal conversion efficiency in the NIR-II optical window. Both in vitro and in vivo studies clearly demonstrated that the Ti 2 O 3 @HA nanoparticles not only exhibit high biocompatibility and photostability, but also can be efficiently taken up by cancer cells and display excellent anticancer ability in the NIR-II region. Thus, this study provides a novel photothermal agent for PTT in the NIR-II optical window, which may further advance cancer photo-treatment in future.

Considerable efforts have been made to incorporate both diagnostic and therapeutic functions into a single nanoplatform for biomedical applications. Herein, we report the synthesis and characterization of magnetite-loaded polymeric micelles (referred as SCDP-LA) for targeted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and photothermal therapy of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), by using an amphiphilic biocompatible polymer of lactobionic acid-modified 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-[amino(polyethylene glycol)-2000] (DSPE-PEG-LA) for the micelle formation. A cluster of SPION@Cu 2-x S is densely encapsulated inside the hydrophobic core of the micelles, which offers both highly sensitive MRI and an excellent photothermal effect. The LA-modified PEG outlayer makes this micelle stable in aqueous solution. Due to the targeting ligand of LA, the SCDP-LA clusters could be selectively internalized into the hepatocellular cell line (HepG2 cells) but not into HeLa cells. In addition, the targeted ability of the SCDP-LA aqueous solution was further confirmed by enhanced MRI with a shorter T 2 relaxation time in HepG2 cells. Meanwhile, it also demonstrates excellent performance to produce significantly enhanced local photothermal killing efficiency against HepG2 cells under NIR laser irradiation. In summary, the present multifunctional nanoplatform based on SPION@Cu 2-x S nanoclusters will be a promising theranostic platform for targeted MRI-guided photothermal therapy.

MRI-guided photothermal therapy is becoming a more widely accepted minimally invasive technique. In this study, glypican-3 monoclonal antibody functionalized Prussian blue nanoparticles (antiGPC3-PBNPs) were developed as a novel theranostic agent for the targeted MR imaging and photothermal therapy of hepatocellular carcinoma. The physical properties of the antiGPC3-PBNPs were characterized by SEM, TEM and Vis-NIR absorption spectra, which showed that the developed nanoprobe formed well defined nanocubes with an average diameter of 21 nm. The significantly increased targeting cellular uptake efficiency in HepG2 cells via receptor-mediated endocytosis was confirmed by confocal fluorescence microscopy and ICP-MS. Furthermore, the high photothermal cytotoxicity, excellent MR imaging contrast enhancement ability and biocompatibility of the developed nanoprobe were also confirmed. Hence, the developed antiGPC3-PBNPs could be used as a promising nanoprobe for targeted MRI diagnosis and efficient photothermal therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma.