Abstract Lipid metabolism and glycolysis play crucial roles in the progression and metastasis of cancer, and the use of 3‐bromopyruvate (3‐BP) as an antiglycolytic agent has shown promise in killing pancreatic cancer cells. However, developing an effective strategy to avoid chemoresistance requires the ability to probe the interaction of cancer drugs with complex tumor‐associated microenvironments (TAMs). Unfortunately, no robust and multiplexed molecular imaging technology is currently available to analyze TAMs. In this study, the simultaneous profiling of three protein biomarkers using SERS nanotags and antibody‐functionalized nanoparticles in a syngeneic mouse model of pancreatic cancer (PC) is demonstrated. This allows for comprehensive information about biomarkers and TAM alterations before and after treatment. These multimodal imaging techniques include surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), immunohistochemistry (IHC), polarized light microscopy, second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy, fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), and untargeted liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (LC‐MS) analysis. The study reveals the efficacy of 3‐BP in treating pancreatic cancer and identifies drug treatment‐induced lipid species remodeling and associated pathways through bioinformatics analysis.
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Hybrid Graphene‐Gold Nanoparticle‐Based Nucleic Acid Conjugates for Cancer‐Specific Multimodal Imaging and Combined Therapeutics
Abstract Nanoparticle‐based nucleic acid conjugates (NP‐NACs) hold great promise for theragnostic applications. However, several limitations have hindered the realization of their full potential in the clinical treatment of cancer and other diseases. In diagnoses, NP‐NACs suffer from low signal‐to‐noise ratios, while the efficiency of NP‐NACs‐mediated cancer therapies has been limited by the adaptation of alternative prosurvival pathways in cancer cells. The recent emergence of personalized and precision medicine has outlined the importance of having both accurate diagnosis and efficient therapeutics in a single platform. As such, the controlled assembly of hybrid graphene oxide/gold nanoparticle (Au@GO NP)‐based cancer‐specific NACs (Au@GO NP‐NACs) for multimodal imaging and combined therapeutics is reported. The developed Au@GO NP‐NACs show excellent surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)‐mediated live‐cell cancer detection and multimodal synergistic cancer therapy through the use of photothermal, genetic, and chemotherapeutic strategies. Synergistic and selective killing of cancer cells are then demonstrated using in vitro microfluidic models. Moreover, with the distinctive advantages of the Au@GO NP‐NACs for cancer theragnostics, precision cancer treatment through the detection of cancer cells in vivo using SERS followed by efficient ablation of tumors is shown. Therefore, the Au@GO NP‐NACs can pave a new road for advanced disease theragnostics.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1803517
- PAR ID:
- 10454623
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Functional Materials
- Volume:
- 31
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 1616-301X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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