AUTHOR=Fan Jing Hao , Fan Gui Ling , Yuan Ping , Deng Fu An , Liu Ling Shan , Zhou Xiang , Yu Xi Yong , Cheng Hong , Li Shi Ying 

TITLE=A Theranostic Nanoprobe for Hypoxia Imaging and Photodynamic Tumor Therapy

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2019.00868

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2019.00868

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=<p>Hypoxia is a common feature for most malignant tumors, which was also closely related to the oxygen-dependent photodynamic therapy. Based on Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), a smart nanoprobe (designated as H-Probe) was designed in this paper for hypoxia imaging and photodynamic tumor therapy. Due to the FRET process, H-Probe could respond to hypoxia with a significant fluorescence recovery. Moreover, abundant <italic>in vitro</italic> investigations demonstrated that the photosensitizer of PpIX in H-Probe could generate large amounts of singlet oxygen to kill cancer cells in the presence of oxygen and light with appropriate wavelength. Also, intravenously injected H-Probe with light irradiation achieved an effective tumor inhibition <italic>in vivo</italic> with a reduced side effect. This original strategy of integrating hypoxia imaging and tumor therapy in one nanoplatform would promote the development of theranostic nanoplatform for tumor precision therapy.</p>