1 research outputs found
Facile Assembly of Functional Upconversion Nanoparticles for Targeted Cancer Imaging and Photodynamic Therapy
The
treatment depth of existing photodynamic therapy (PDT) is limited
because of the absorption of visible excitation light in biological
tissue. It can be augmented by means of upconversion nanoparticles
(UCNPs) transforming deep-penetrating near-infrared (NIR) light to
visible light, exciting PDT drugs. We report here a facile strategy
to assemble such PDT nanocomposites functionalized for cancer targeting,
based on coating of the UCNPs with a silica layer encapsulating the
Rose Bengal photosensitizer and bioconjugation to antibodies through
a bifunctional fusion protein consisting of a solid-binding peptide
linker genetically fused to <i>Streptococcus</i> Protein
G′. The fusion protein (Linker-Protein G) mediates the functionalization
of silica-coated UCNPs with cancer cell antibodies, allowing for specific
target recognition and delivery. The resulting nanocomposites were
shown to target cancer cells specifically, generate intracellular
reactive oxygen species under 980 nm excitation, and induce NIR-triggered
phototoxicity to suppress cancer cell growth in vitro