Publications by authors named "Huaixin Zhao"

Article Synopsis
  • Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a new way to treat cancer, but it has some problems like not reaching deep enough into the body and dealing with tricky tumor environments.
  • Scientists created a special DNA-based gel that can help treat tumors without using external light and can adjust the tumor’s surroundings to make the treatment more effective.
  • In tests on mice with breast cancer, this new gel was able to reduce tumor size by about 78.3%, showing it could be a great new option for battling cancer.
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Molecular imaging-guided therapy was essential for realizing precise cancer intervention, while designing an imaging platform to achieve autofluorescence-free imaging for dual modal imaging-guided drug delivery remains a challenge. Near-infrared persistent luminescence nanoparticles (NIR PLNPs) were promising for tumor imaging due to no background interference from the tissue. Herein, a persistent luminescent metal-organic framework (PLNPs@MIL-100(Fe)) is prepared a layer-by-layer method for dual-modal imaging-guided drug delivery.

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Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a therapeutic strategy that is dependent on external light irradiation that faces a major challenge in cancer treatment due to the poor tissue-penetration depths of light irradiation. Herein, a DNA nanocomplex that integrates persistent-luminescence nanoparticles (PLNPs) is developed, which realizes tumor-site glutathione-activated PDT for breast cancer without exogenous laser excitation. The scaffold of the nanocomplex is AS1411-aptamer-encoded ultralong single-stranded DNA chain with two functions: i) providing sufficient intercalation sites for the photosensitizer, and ii) recognizing nucleolin that specifically overexpresses on the surface of cancer cells.

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DNAzyme is emerging for gene therapy. The administration of the catalytic activity of DNAzyme has proven important but challenging for clinical applications. Herein, we report a synergistic DNA-polydopamine-MnO nanocomplex, which enables near-infrared (NIR)-light-powered catalytic activity of DNAzyme .

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MicroRNA (miRNA) represents a promising class of therapeutic nucleic acid drugs, while delivery challenges remain that impede the advancement of miRNA therapy, largely because of in vivo instability and low delivery efficiency. Herein, we discover the dual roles of metal-organic framework (MOF) nanoparticles (ZIF-8) as nanocarriers for miRNA delivery and adjuvants for chemodynamic therapy. The miR-34a-m@ZIF-8 complex demonstrated efficient cellular uptake and lysosomal stimuli-responsive miRNA release.

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DNA nanoflower has been demonstrated as a promising DNA nanostructure for therapeutics and bioimaging primarily because of the programmable DNA sequence and unique structure. Herein, we report manganese ions mediated enzymatic biomineralization to prepare DNA-Mn hybrid nanoflower (DMNF). Paramagnetic Mn was explored as the co-factor of DNA polymerase for the extension of long strand DNA.

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Molecular imaging enables noninvasive visualization of cancer-related biological processes for tumor diagnostics; engineering molecular probes for accurate and efficient tumor imaging remains challenge. Herein, by using a biosynthetic strategy, we prepared a tumor-targeted fluorescence/magnetic resonance protein-based probe for dual-modal imaging. The probe was biosynthesized by the fusion of targeting peptide (RGD) with fluorescence protein (RFP) and a small peptide (LBT) that had strong affinity with Gd.

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Metastasis is the primary cause of cancer morbidity and mortality. To obtain an effective diagnosis and treatment, precise imaging of tumor metastasis is required. Here we prepared persistent luminescent nanoparticles (PLNPs) containing a hydrogel (PL-gel) for targeted, sustained, and autofluorescence-free tumor metastasis imaging.

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Luminescent porous materials have been widely used in biosensing, bioimaging and drug delivery by virtue of the special porous structure and luminescent property. The main obstacle for the application in biosensing and bioimaging is the background interference of external irradiation. Herein, we report a background interference-free persistent luminescent metal-organic framework (PLMOF) with persistent luminescent near infrared (NIR) luminescence for tumor site activated persistent luminescence imaging.

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Black titanium oxide has attracted tremendous interest in tumor phototherapy via converting light energy to heat and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Nevertheless, current synthesis methods suffer from inert gas shielding, high costs, complicated procedures, and expensive facilities, which are fairly impractical for treatment application. Herein, we propose a one-step strategy for fast facile synthesis of black TiO nanoparticles via a microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis approach with Ti power, hydrochloric acid, and hydrofluoric acid without the requirement of an reducing agent and high-temperature calcination.

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Persistent luminescent nanoparticles (PLNPs) show great potential in realizing precision imaging due to the absence of in situ excitation and no background interference. However, the current PLNP-based tumour imaging is usually achieved by single targeting or passive targeting strategies, and thus it lacks high specificity and affinity for efficient persistent luminescence imaging in vivo. Herein we report the bioconjugation of multiple targeting ligands on the surface of PLNPs for dual-targeted bioimaging to improve the specificity and affinity of the PLNP nanoprobe for in vitro and in vivo bioimaging.

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Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have shown great potential in designing theranostic probes for cancer diagnosis and therapy due to their unique properties, including versatile structures and composition, tunable particle and pore size, enormous porosity, high surface area, and intrinsic biodegradability. In this study, we demonstrate novel MOF-based theranostic FeO@UiO-66 core-shell composites constructed by growth of a UiO-66 MOF shell on a FeO core for simultaneous drug delivery and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. In the composites, the UiO-66 shell is devoted for encapsulating the drug, whereas the FeO core serves as a MR contrast agent.

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The versatile application of nanoparticles in integrating imaging and therapy has aroused extensive research interest in precision medicine. Of the various nanoparticles that have been studied, CuS has shown great potential in the construction of multifunctional agents, owing to its excellent photothermal heating properties. Herein, we report a facile one-pot biomineralization approach for the preparation of versatile bovine-serum-albumin-conjugated CuS/Gd2 O3 hybrid nanoparticles (BSA-CuS/Gd2 O3 HNPs), which simultaneously possessed strong longitudinal relaxivity, an outstanding photothermal effect, high drug-loading capacity, and pH/temperature-responsive drug release.

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A simple and mild method for the separation of aliphatic aldehydes based on a condensation reaction with 9,10-phenanthrenequinone as labeling reagent with nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis has been developed. The detection was performed with a diode array detector (DAD). A 58.

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A new fluorescent derivatization reagent, 10-ethyl-9-oxo-9, 10-dihydroacridine-2-sulfonyl chloride (EASC), was synthesized. A pre-column derivatization with EASC and reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method with fluorescence (FL) detection and mass spectrometry (MS) identification was performed for the trace analysis of oestradiol (E2) and oestriol (E3) in urine. This reagent shows higher sensitivities in ultraviolet (UV), FL and MS detection than those of dansyl chloride (DNS-Cl), and the fluorescence intensity of EASC is 1000 times higher than that of DNS-Cl.

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A simple, sensitive method for the determination of aliphatic amines based on a sulfonylation reaction using 10-ethyl-acridine-3-sulfonyl chloride (EASC) as pre-column labeling reagent with fluorescence detection and APCI-MS identification has been developed. The labeled derivatives exhibited high stability and were enough to be efficiently analyzed by HPLC with an excitation maximum at lambda(ex) 270 nm and an emission maximum at lambda(em) 430 nm. Identification of derivatives was carried out by online post-column MS in positive-ion mode.

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A pre-column derivatization method for the sensitive determination of aldehydes using the tagging reagent 2-[2-(7H-dibenzo[a,g] carbazol-7-yl)-ethoxy] ethyl carbonylhydrazine (DBCEEC) followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection and APCI-MS identification has been developed. The chromophore of fluoren-9-methoxy-carbonylhydrazine (Fmoc-hydrazine) reagent was replaced by 2-[2-(7H-dibenzo[a,g] carbazol-7-yl)-ethoxy] ethyl functional group, which resulted in a sensitive fluorescence tagging reagent DBCEEC. DBCEEC could easily and quickly labeled aldehydes.

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