Ultrathin-NC-Deficient Carbon Nitride for Stabilized Enhancement of Electrochemiluminescence.

In the realm of electrochemiluminescence (ECL), the issue of weak signal intensity and instability linked with pure graphitic carbon nitride (CN) is widely recognized. This study suggests a method to produce nitrogen-deficient (NC) porous ultrathin CN (UACN) using ammonium acetate and ultrasonication. The ultrathin porous nature of UACN provides numerous NC defects as catalytic sites, aiding in the decomposition of KSO, a conclusion supported by density functional theory (DFT).

Endoplasmic Reticulum-Targeting AIE Photosensitizers to Boost Immunogenic Cell Death for Immunotherapy of Bladder Carcinoma.

Bladder cancer is characterized by high rates of recurrence and multifocality. Immunogenic cell death (ICD) of cancer cells has emerged as a promising strategy to improve the immunogenicity of tumor cells for enhanced cancer immunotherapy. Although photosensitizer-based photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been validated as capable of inducing ICD in cancer cells, the photosensitizers with a sufficient ICD induction ability are still rare, and there have been few reports on the development of advanced photosensitizers to strongly evoke the ICD of bladder cancer cells for eliciting potent antitumor immune responses and eradicating bladder carcinoma in situ.

A Fluorinated Supramolecular Self-Assembled Peptide as Nanovaccine Adjuvant for Enhanced Cancer Vaccine Therapy.

Adjuvants play an important role in enhancing vaccine-induced immune protection. Adequate cellular uptake, robust lysosomal escape, and subsequent antigen cross-presentation are critical steps for vaccine adjuvants to effectively elicit cellular immunity. Here, a fluorinated supramolecular strategy to generate a series of peptide adjuvants by using arginine (R) and fluorinated diphenylalanine peptide (DP) is adopted.

An Activatable Near-Infrared Afterglow Theranostic Prodrug with Self-Sustainable Magnification Effect of Immunogenic Cell Death.

Herein, we report an activatable near-infrared (NIR) afterglow theranostic prodrug that circumvents high background noise interference caused by external light excitation. The prodrug can release hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT) in response to the high intratumoral peroxynitrite level associated with immunogenic cell death (ICD), and synchronously activate afterglow signal to monitor the drug release process and cold-to-hot tumor transformation. The prodrug itself is an ICD inducer achieved by photodynamic therapy (PDT).

Semiconducting Polymer Nanoparticles with Surface-Mimicking Protein Secondary Structure as Lysosome-Targeting Chimaeras for Self-Synergistic Cancer Immunotherapy.

Immunotherapy has received tremendous attention for tumor treatment, but the efficacy is greatly hindered by insufficient tumor-infiltration of immune cells and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. The strategy that can efficiently activate cytotoxic T lymphocytes and inhibit negative immune regulators will greatly amplify immunotherapy outcome, which is however very rare. Herein, a new kind of semiconducting polymer (SP) nanoparticles is developed, featured with surface-mimicking protein secondary structure (SPSS NPs) for self-synergistic cancer immunotherapy by combining immunogenic cell death (ICD) and immune checkpoint blockade therapy.

Evoking Highly Immunogenic Ferroptosis Aided by Intramolecular Motion-Induced Photo-Hyperthermia for Cancer Therapy.

Immunogenic cell death (ICD) through apoptosis or necroptosis is widely adopted to improve the therapeutic effect in cancer treatment by triggering a specific antitumor immunity. However, the tumor resistance to apoptosis/necroptosis seriously impedes the therapeutic effect. Recently, ferroptosis featured with excessive lipid peroxidation is demonstrated capable of bypassing the apoptosis/necroptosis resistance to kill cancer cells.

Simultaneously boosting the conjugation, brightness and solubility of organic fluorophores by using AIEgens.

Organic near-infrared (NIR) emitters hold great promise for biomedical applications. Yet, most organic NIR fluorophores face the limitations of short emission wavelengths, low brightness, unsatisfactory processability, and the aggregation-caused quenching effect. Therefore, development of effective molecular design strategies to improve these important properties at the same time is a highly pursued topic, but very challenging.

Clearable Black Phosphorus Nanoconjugate for Targeted Cancer Phototheranostics.

Therapeutic efficacy of synergistic photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) is limited by complex conjugation chemistry, absorption wavelength mismatch, and inadequate biodegradability of the PDT-PTT agents. Herein, we designed biocompatible copper sulfide nanodot anchored folic acid-modified black phosphorus nanosheets (BP-CuS-FA) to overcome these limitations, consequently enhancing the therapeutic efficiency of PDT-PTT. In vitro and in vivo assays reveal good biocompatibility and commendable tumor inhibition efficacy of the BP-CuS-FA nanoconjugate because of the synergistic PTT-PDT mediated by near-infrared laser irradiation.

Massively Evoking Immunogenic Cell Death by Focused Mitochondrial Oxidative Stress using an AIE Luminogen with a Twisted Molecular Structure.

Immunogenic cell death (ICD) provides momentous theoretical principle for modern cancer immunotherapy. However, the currently available ICD inducers are still very limited and photosensitizer-based ones can hardly induce sufficient ICD to achieve satisfactory cancer immunotherapy by themselves. Herein, an organic photosensitizer (named TPE-DPA-TCyP) with a twisted molecular structure, strong aggregation-induced emission activity, and specific ability is reported for effectively inducing focused mitochondrial oxidative stress of cancer cells, which can serve as a much superior ICD inducer to the popularly used ones, including chlorin e6 (Ce6), pheophorbide A, and oxaliplatin.

A Noncovalent Fluorescence Turn-on Strategy for Hypoxia Imaging.

Hypoxia plays crucial roles in many diseases and is a central target for them. Present hypoxia imaging is restricted to the covalent approach, which needs tedious synthesis. In this work, a new supramolecular host-guest approach, based on the complexation of a hypoxia-responsive macrocycle with a commercial dye, is proposed.

Heteromultivalent peptide recognition by co-assembly of cyclodextrin and calixarene amphiphiles enables inhibition of amyloid fibrillation.

Heteromultivalency, which involves the simultaneous interactions of more than one type of ligand with more than one type of receptor, is ubiquitous in living systems and provides a powerful strategy to improve the binding efficiency of heterotopic species such as proteins and membranes. However, the design and development of artificial heteromultivalent receptors is still challenging owing to tedious synthesis processes and the need for precise control over the spatial arrangement of the binding sites. Here, we have designed a heteromultivalent platform by co-assembling cyclodextrin and calixarene amphiphiles, so that two orthogonal, non-covalent binding sites are distributed on the surface of the co-assembly.

Corannulene-Incorporated AIE Nanodots with Highly Suppressed Nonradiative Decay for Boosted Cancer Phototheranostics In Vivo.

Fluorescent nanoparticles (NPs) based on luminogens with aggregation-induced emission characteristic (AIEgens), namely AIE dots, have received wide attention because of their antiquenching attitude in emission and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation when aggregated. However, few reports are available on how to control and optimize their fluorescence and ROS generation ability. Herein, it is reported that enhancing the intraparticle confined microenvironment is an effective approach to advanced AIE dots, permitting boosted cancer phototheranostics in vivo.

Fluorescent Nanoparticles for Noninvasive Stem Cell Tracking in Regenerative Medicine.

Stem cell-based therapies have emerged as promising platforms with the potential to treat serious diseases that are incurable by traditional medical approaches. To optimize the overall outcomes, it is important to understand the fate of transplanted stem cells (e.g.