1. Unrestricted molecular motions enable mild photothermy for recurrence-resistant FLASH antitumor radiotherapy
- Author
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Hanchen Shen, Hongbin Wang, Jianlan Mo, Jianyu Zhang, Changhuo Xu, Feiyi Sun, Xinwen Ou, Xinyan Zhu, Lidong Du, Huaqiang Ju, Ruquan Ye, Guangfu Shi, Ryan T.K. Kwok, Jacky W.Y. Lam, Jianwei Sun, Tianfu Zhang, Shipeng Ning, and Ben Zhong Tang
- Subjects
FLASH radiotherapy ,Cancer recurrence ,Mild photothermal therapy ,Aggregation-induced emission ,Molecular motion ,Materials of engineering and construction. Mechanics of materials ,TA401-492 ,Biology (General) ,QH301-705.5 - Abstract
Ultrahigh dose-rate (FLASH) radiotherapy is an emerging technology with excellent therapeutic effects and low biological toxicity. However, tumor recurrence largely impede the effectiveness of FLASH therapy. Overcoming tumor recurrence is crucial for practical FLASH applications. Here, we prepared an agarose-based thermosensitive hydrogel containing a mild photothermal agent (TPE-BBT) and a glutaminase inhibitor (CB-839). Within nanoparticles, TPE-BBT exhibits aggregation-induced emission peaked at 900 nm, while the unrestricted molecular motions endow TPE-BBT with a mild photothermy generation ability. The balanced photothermal effect and photoluminescence are ideal for phototheranostics. Upon 660-nm laser irradiation, the temperature-rising effect softens and hydrolyzes the hydrogel to release TPE-BBT and CB-839 into the tumor site for concurrent mild photothermal therapy and chemotherapy, jointly inhibiting homologous recombination repair of DNA. The enhanced FLASH radiotherapy efficiently kills the tumor tissue without recurrence and obvious systematic toxicity. This work deciphers the unrestricted molecular motions in bright organic fluorophores as a source of photothermy, and provides novel recurrence-resistant radiotherapy without adverse side effects.
- Published
- 2024
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