Neutral Cyanine: Ultra-Stable NIR-II Merocyanines for Highly Efficient Bioimaging and Tumor-Targeted Phototheranostics

Yingpeng Wan; Weilong Chen; Ying Liu; Ka-Wai Lee; Yijian Gao; Di Zhang; Yuqing Li; Zhongming Huang; Jingdong Luo; Chun-Sing Lee; Shengliang Li

doi:10.1002/adma.202405966

Neutral Cyanine: Ultra-Stable NIR-II Merocyanines for Highly Efficient Bioimaging and Tumor-Targeted Phototheranostics

Yingpeng Wan, Weilong Chen, Ying Liu, Ka-Wai Lee, Yijian Gao, Di Zhang, Yuqing Li, Zhongming Huang, Jingdong Luo^*, Chun-Sing Lee^*, Shengliang Li^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

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Abstract

Fluorescence imaging (FLI)-guided phototheranostics using emission from the second near-infrared (NIR-II) window show significant potential for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Clinical imaging-used polymethine ionic indocyanine green (ICG) dye is widely adopted for NIR fluorescence imaging-guided photothermal therapy (PTT) research due to its exceptional photophysical properties. However, ICG has limitations such as poor photostability, low photothermal conversion efficiency (PCE), short-wavelength emission peak, and liver-targeting issues, which restrict its wider use. In this study, two ionic ICG derivatives are transformed into neutral merocyanines (mCy) to achieve much-enhanced performance for NIR-II cancer phototheranostics. Initial designs of two ionic dyes show similar drawbacks as ICG in terms of poor photostability and low photothermal performance. One of the modified neutral molecules, mCy890, shows significantly improved stability, an emission peak over 1000 nm, and a high photothermal PCE of 51%, all considerably outperform ICG. In vivo studies demonstrate that nanoparticles of the mCy890 can effectively accumulate at the tumor sites for cancer photothermal therapy guided by NIR-II fluorescence imaging. This research provides valuable insights into the development of neutral merocyanines for enhanced cancer phototheranostics. © 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

Original language	English
Article number	2405966
Journal	Advanced Materials
Volume	36
Issue number	31
Online published	21 May 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202405966
Publication status	Published - 1 Aug 2024

Funding

Y.W., W.C., and Y.L. contributed equally to this work. C.-S.L. thanks the support of the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, General Research Fund (Project No. CityU 11318322). S.L. thanks the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52173135), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20231523), Jiangsu Specially Appointed Professorship, Leading Talents of Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Gusu (ZXL2022496), and the Suzhou Science and Technology Program (SKY2022039). J.L. thanks the support of Fundamental Research Project funding from Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao research team projects of Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (No. 2020B1515130006), National Natural Science Foundation of China (U20A20165), Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong (RGC Ref Nos. CityU11317922 and CityU11303721), internal research supports or initiatives from City University of Hong Kong (Nos. 9680263 and 9610454). This work was also funded by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2023M742536, No. 2022M712305) and the Jiangsu Funding Program for Excellent Postdoctoral Talent (No. 2023ZB011, No. 2022ZB598). The animal experiments in this study were conducted in accordance with the guidelines approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Soochow University (SYXK(SU)2021-0073).

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Research Keywords

cancer phototheranostics
neutral merocyanines
NIR-II fluorescence imaging
photothermal therapy
polymethine cyanine

Publisher's Copyright Statement

This full text is made available under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

RGC Funding Information

RGC-funded

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10.1002/adma.202405966

229071603.pdfFinal Published version, 10.9 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

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title = "Neutral Cyanine: Ultra-Stable NIR-II Merocyanines for Highly Efficient Bioimaging and Tumor-Targeted Phototheranostics",

abstract = "Fluorescence imaging (FLI)-guided phototheranostics using emission from the second near-infrared (NIR-II) window show significant potential for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Clinical imaging-used polymethine ionic indocyanine green (ICG) dye is widely adopted for NIR fluorescence imaging-guided photothermal therapy (PTT) research due to its exceptional photophysical properties. However, ICG has limitations such as poor photostability, low photothermal conversion efficiency (PCE), short-wavelength emission peak, and liver-targeting issues, which restrict its wider use. In this study, two ionic ICG derivatives are transformed into neutral merocyanines (mCy) to achieve much-enhanced performance for NIR-II cancer phototheranostics. Initial designs of two ionic dyes show similar drawbacks as ICG in terms of poor photostability and low photothermal performance. One of the modified neutral molecules, mCy890, shows significantly improved stability, an emission peak over 1000 nm, and a high photothermal PCE of 51%, all considerably outperform ICG. In vivo studies demonstrate that nanoparticles of the mCy890 can effectively accumulate at the tumor sites for cancer photothermal therapy guided by NIR-II fluorescence imaging. This research provides valuable insights into the development of neutral merocyanines for enhanced cancer phototheranostics. {\textcopyright} 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.",

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T2 - Ultra-Stable NIR-II Merocyanines for Highly Efficient Bioimaging and Tumor-Targeted Phototheranostics

AU - Wan, Yingpeng

AU - Chen, Weilong

AU - Liu, Ying

AU - Lee, Ka-Wai

AU - Gao, Yijian

AU - Zhang, Di

AU - Li, Yuqing

AU - Huang, Zhongming

AU - Luo, Jingdong

AU - Lee, Chun-Sing

AU - Li, Shengliang

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N2 - Fluorescence imaging (FLI)-guided phototheranostics using emission from the second near-infrared (NIR-II) window show significant potential for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Clinical imaging-used polymethine ionic indocyanine green (ICG) dye is widely adopted for NIR fluorescence imaging-guided photothermal therapy (PTT) research due to its exceptional photophysical properties. However, ICG has limitations such as poor photostability, low photothermal conversion efficiency (PCE), short-wavelength emission peak, and liver-targeting issues, which restrict its wider use. In this study, two ionic ICG derivatives are transformed into neutral merocyanines (mCy) to achieve much-enhanced performance for NIR-II cancer phototheranostics. Initial designs of two ionic dyes show similar drawbacks as ICG in terms of poor photostability and low photothermal performance. One of the modified neutral molecules, mCy890, shows significantly improved stability, an emission peak over 1000 nm, and a high photothermal PCE of 51%, all considerably outperform ICG. In vivo studies demonstrate that nanoparticles of the mCy890 can effectively accumulate at the tumor sites for cancer photothermal therapy guided by NIR-II fluorescence imaging. This research provides valuable insights into the development of neutral merocyanines for enhanced cancer phototheranostics. © 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

AB - Fluorescence imaging (FLI)-guided phototheranostics using emission from the second near-infrared (NIR-II) window show significant potential for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Clinical imaging-used polymethine ionic indocyanine green (ICG) dye is widely adopted for NIR fluorescence imaging-guided photothermal therapy (PTT) research due to its exceptional photophysical properties. However, ICG has limitations such as poor photostability, low photothermal conversion efficiency (PCE), short-wavelength emission peak, and liver-targeting issues, which restrict its wider use. In this study, two ionic ICG derivatives are transformed into neutral merocyanines (mCy) to achieve much-enhanced performance for NIR-II cancer phototheranostics. Initial designs of two ionic dyes show similar drawbacks as ICG in terms of poor photostability and low photothermal performance. One of the modified neutral molecules, mCy890, shows significantly improved stability, an emission peak over 1000 nm, and a high photothermal PCE of 51%, all considerably outperform ICG. In vivo studies demonstrate that nanoparticles of the mCy890 can effectively accumulate at the tumor sites for cancer photothermal therapy guided by NIR-II fluorescence imaging. This research provides valuable insights into the development of neutral merocyanines for enhanced cancer phototheranostics. © 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

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ER -

Neutral Cyanine: Ultra-Stable NIR-II Merocyanines for Highly Efficient Bioimaging and Tumor-Targeted Phototheranostics

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Research Keywords

Publisher's Copyright Statement

RGC Funding Information

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GRF: Conjugated Oligomer Nanoparticles for Type-I Photodynamic Therapy of Cancer with Near Infrared Radiation

GRF: Molecular Bandgap Engineering of Organic Electro-Optic Materials for Achieving Ultralarge Near-Resonance Optical Nonlinearities Guided by Spectroscopic Electromodulation and Ellipsometry

GRF: Efficient Pyroelectric Poling of High-Performance Organic Electro-Optic Materials for Hybrid Photonic Platforms

Cite this

Neutral Cyanine: Ultra-Stable NIR-II Merocyanines for Highly Efficient Bioimaging and Tumor-Targeted Phototheranostics

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Research Keywords

Publisher's Copyright Statement

RGC Funding Information

Access Output

Other Access Options

Permanent Link

Other Files and Links

Fingerprint

Projects

GRF: Conjugated Oligomer Nanoparticles for Type-I Photodynamic Therapy of Cancer with Near Infrared Radiation

GRF: Molecular Bandgap Engineering of Organic Electro-Optic Materials for Achieving Ultralarge Near-Resonance Optical Nonlinearities Guided by Spectroscopic Electromodulation and Ellipsometry

GRF: Efficient Pyroelectric Poling of High-Performance Organic Electro-Optic Materials for Hybrid Photonic Platforms

Cite this