Mitochondria-Targeting Oxygen-Sufficient Perfluorocarbon Nanoparticles for Imaging-Guided Tumor Phototherapy

Sijie Chen,1– 3 Biying Huang,1,2 Wenjing Pei,1,2 Long Wang,4 Yan Xu,1,2 Chengcheng Niu1,2 1Department of Ultrasound Diagnosis, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410011, People’s Republic of China; 2Research Center of Ultrasonography, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410011, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Ultrasound Diagnosis, Changsha Central Hospital, Nanhua University, Changsha, Hunan 410014, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Orthopedics, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410008, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Chengcheng NiuDepartment of Ultrasound Diagnosis, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410011, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail niuchengcheng@csu.edu.cnBackground: Although photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamics therapy (PDT) have both made excellent progress in tumor therapy, the effectiveness of using PTT or PDT alone is dissatisfactory due to the limitations of the penetration depth in PTT and the hypoxic microenvironment of tumors for PDT. Combination phototherapy has currently become a burgeoning cancer treatment.Methods and Materials: In this work, a mitochondria-targeting liquid perfluorocarbon (PFC)-based oxygen delivery system was developed for the synergistic PDT/photothermal therapy (PTT) of cancer through image guiding.Results: Importantly, these nanoparticles (NPs) can effectively and accurately accumulate in the target tumor via the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect.Conclusion: This approach offers a novel technique to achieve outstanding antitumor efficacy by an unprecedented design with tumor mitochondria targeting, oxygen delivery, and synergistic PDT/PTT with dual-imaging guidance.Keywords: IR780, mitochondria-targeting, perfluorocarbon, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy