Gadolinium doped red-emissive carbon dots as targeted theranostic agents for fluorescence and MR imaging guided cancer phototherapy

• DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2022.135965
• Publication Date: 2022-03-23T07:09:19Z
• Authors: Min Jiao; Yuxin Wang; Wenjun Wang; Xiaoyu Zhou; Jie Xu; Yujuan Xing; Liang Chen; Yingying Zhang; Minghui Chen; Kai Xu; Shaohui Zheng
• Keywords: Biocompatibility; Nanomaterials; Fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy; Imaging agent; Aptamer

As a new type of fluorescent agents, carbon dots (CDs) have revealed great potential in biomedical imaging applications attributed to their unique optical properties and good biocompatibility. However, engineering versatile CDs nanoplatform integrating multifunctional therapeutic functionalities has always been an intractable challenge targeted cancer treatment based on nanomaterials. Herein, gadolinium-doped CD conjugated with AS1411 aptamers (AS1411-Gd-CD) was prepared via facile solvothermal approach for fluorescence (FL)/MR guided photothermal therapy (PTT). The synthesized AS1411-Gd-CDs exhibited uniform nanostructure, biocompatibility, strong red-fluorescence emission, significant MR contrast efficient conversion. Benefiting from these outstanding properties, the were successfully employed tumor-specific FL/MR dual-modal vitro vivo. Furthermore, under guidance imaging, demonstrated tumor inhibition effect owing effect. Thus, this study provided as theranostic agent synergistic PTT treatment.