Indocyanine Green Loaded Magnetic Carbon Nanoparticles for Near Infrared Fluorescence/Magnetic Resonance Dual-Modal Imaging and Photothermal Therapy of Tumor

Malignant tumor incidences have been rapidly rising recently and are becoming a serious threat to human health. Herein, a multifunctional cancer targeted theranostic nanoplatform is developed by in situ growth of iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles on carbon nanoparticles, and then loaded with fluorescent dye indocyanine green (ICG@MCNPs). The loading of ICG on the nanoplatform significantly improves its photostability, and hence facilitates long-term near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging and efficient photothermal therapy (PTT) of tumor. The in vivo NIRF imaging reveals that ICG@MCNPs can be targeted to the tumor site. Moreover, in vivo magnetic resonance imaging also confirmed the efficient accumulation of ICG@MCNPs in the tumor site. Inspiringly, the subsequent PTT of tumor-bearing mice is achieved, as evidenced by the complete ablation of the tumor and the recovery of the physiological indexes to normal levels. Benefitting from its low-cost, simple preparation, and excellent dual-modal imaging and therapy, the ICG@MCNPs-based theranostic nanoplatform holds great promise in tumor-targeted nanomedicine

PEGylated Graphene Oxide-Mediated Protein Delivery for Cell Function Regulation

<p class="articleBody_abstractText">Delivery of proteins into cells may alter cellular functions as various proteins are involved in cellular signaling by activating or deactivating the corresponding pathways and, therefore, can be used in cancer therapy. In this study, we have demonstrated for the first time that PEGylated graphene oxide (GO) can be exploited as a nanovector for efficient delivery of proteins into cells. In this approach, GO was functionalized with amine-terminated 6-armed polyethylene glycol (PEG) molecules, thereby providing GO with proper physiological stability and biocompatibility. Proteins were then loaded onto PEG-grafted GO (GO-PEG) with high payload via noncovalent interactions. GO-PEG could deliver proteins to cytoplasm efficiently, protecting them from enzymatic hydrolysis. The protein delivered by GO-PEG reserves its biological activity that regulates the cell fate. As a result, delivery of ribonuclease A (RNase A) led to cell death and transport of protein kinase A (PKA) induced cell growth. Taken together, this work demonstrated the feasibility of PEGlyated GO as a promising protein delivery vector with high biocompatibility, high payload capacity and, more importantly, capabilities of protecting proteins from enzymatic hydrolysis and retaining their biological functions.</p

Mechanism of Cellular Uptake of Graphene Oxide Studied by Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

<div class="para"><p>The last few years have witnessed rapid development of biological and medical applications of graphene oxide (GO), such as drug/gene delivery, biosensing, and bioimaging. However, little is known about the cellular uptake mechanism and pathway of GO. In this work, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy is employed to investigate the cellular internalization of GO loaded with Au nanoparticles (NPs) by Ca Ski cells. The presence of Au NPs on the surface of GO enables detection of enhanced intrinsic Raman signals of GO inside the cell. The SERS results reveal that GO is distributed inhomogeneously inside the cell. Furthermore, internalization of Au-GO into Ca Ski cells is mainly via clathrin-mediated endocytosis, and is an energy-dependent process.</p></div