Ultracompact Nanotheranostic PEG Platform for Cancer Applications.

We present a new targetable nanoconstruct (NC) capable of simultaneously serving as a therapeutic platform for photodynamic therapy (PDT) as well as a magnetic resonance (MR) molecular imaging agent, free of heavy metal atoms. PDT has seen much interest with the introduction of NC-assisted cell-specific targeting of the photosensitizer (PS). The previously reported ultrasmall 8-arm polyethylene glycol amine (8PEGA) NC, with an attached chlorin e6 (Ce6) PS, yielded promising results for PDT of heart arrhythmia, and , on live rat and sheep hearts, respectively, when using targeting peptides for of cardio-myocytes.