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Good biocompatibility, active tumor targeting, and stimulus-responsive release offer great opportunity for precise imaging-guided tumor treatment. However, the current strategies for the fabrication of smart theranostic platforms suffer from tedious synthesis processes. Here, we propose a universal and facile strategy for the fabrication of smart nanoscale metal-organic framework (NMOF)-based nanoplatforms for imaging-guided precise chemotherapy. As a proof of concept, 5-boronobenzene-1,3-dicarboxylic acid (BBDC), as a versatile ligand, was employed for the first time with Gd3+ as metal nodes to prepare a smart magnetic resonance (MR) imaging-guided drug-delivery system. Specific reversible diol-borate condensation enables effortless coating of glucose on the NMOFs to improve their biocompatibility. The specific interaction between glucose and glucose-transported protein ensures active tumor-targeting ability. Moreover, the glucose layer, as a pH-responsive diol-borate gatekeeper, prevents the premature leakage of drugs. The proposed smart theranostic nanoplatform was well used in MR imaging-guided tumor-targeted precise chemotherapy. This strategy is simply extended to the design of other MOF-glucose composites for diverse applications, such as X-ray computed tomography imaging of gastrointestinal tract with Yb-MOFs-Glu. BBDC, as a functional ligand, provides a simple and universal way to fabricate smart NMOF theranostic platforms with multifunction as "three birds with one stone". The facile and universal strategy lays down a new way to develop multifunctional nanoagents for precision medicine.

Multimodal imaging is more suitable for disease diagnosis because of its ability to provide more complementary and accurate information over single-mode imaging. Mn-doped quantum dots (QDs), especially Mn-doped ZnS (ZnSe) QDs, possess unique fluorescent and magnetic properties and are thus attractive for fluorescence/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) dual-mode imaging. However, the optimal dopant (Mn2+) concentration for maximizing the fluorescence of QDs is relatively low for the MRI imaging. Herein, based on the large Stokes shift of Mn-doped ZnSe QDs, an enrichment strategy with mesoporous silica (MSN) loading was explored for constructing a highly luminescent/paramagnetism Mn-doped ZnSe QDs assembly (MSN@QDs) for improved MRI/optical dual-model imaging. After assembly, the loading density of QDs in MSNs was estimated to be 152 ± 12. Upon loading, the fluorescence of the MSN@QDs assembly was enriched along with QDs (enrichment factor of ∼143). Because of the large Stokes shift (∼200 nm), no appreciable ...

Multifunctional nanoprobes that provide diagnosis and treatment features have attracted great interest in precision medicine. Near-infrared (NIR) persistent luminescence nanoparticles (PLNPs) are optimal materials due to no in situ excitation needed, deep tissue penetration, and high signal-to-noise ratio, while activatable optical probes can further enhance signal-to-noise ratio for the signal turn-on nature. Here, we show the design of an activatable multifunctional PLNP/copper sulfide (CuS)-based nanoprobe for luminescence imaging-guided photothermal therapy in vivo. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs)-specific peptide substrate (H2N–GPLGVRGC–SH) was used to connect PLNP and CuS to build a MMP activatable system. The nanoprobe not only possesses ultralow-background for in vivo luminescence imaging due to the absence of autofluorescence and optical activatable nature but also offers effective photothermal therapy from CuS nanoparticles. Further bioconjugation of c(RGDyK) enables the nanoprobe for cancer-ta...

High-performance and biocompatible contrast agents are the key to accurate diagnosis of various diseases in vivo via CT imaging. Fabrication of pure Bi nanoparticles is the best way to maximize X-ray absorption efficiency due to the ultrahigh X-ray attenuation ability of Bi and 100% content of Bi element. However, high-quality Bi nanoparticles prepared through a facile strategy are still lacking. Herein, we report a simple noninjection method to fabricate uniformly sized pure Bi nanoparticles using only two commercial reagents by simply heating the mixture of raw materials in a short time. The obtained Bi nanoparticles owned highly uniform size, excellent monodispersity, and impressive antioxidant capacity. After being modified with oligosaccharide, the "sweet" Bi nanoprobe with comfortable patient experience and favorable biocompatibility was successfully used in CT visualization of gastrointestinal tract in detail.