Fluorinated Gadolinium Chelate-Grafted Nanoconjugates for Contrast-Enhanced -Weighted H and pH-Activatable F Dual-Modal MRI.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is one of the most popular imaging techniques, which offers an ionization-free noninvasive means for imaging deep tissues with high resolution. Conventional H MRI is well versed in providing detailed anatomical information but suffers from low contrast for tracking biomarkers because of the abundance of water in living bodies. F MRI with negligible endogenous background interference enables highly sensitive detection of biomolecular targets and has drawn extensive attention from the biomedical research community recently.

Activatable Mitochondria-Targeting Organoarsenic Prodrugs for Bioenergetic Cancer Therapy.

Despite widespread applications for cancer treatment, chemotherapy is restricted by several limitations, including low targeting specificity, acquired drug resistance, and concomitant adverse side effects. It remains challenging to overcome these drawbacks. Herein, we report a new bioenergetic approach for treating cancer efficiently.

An integrative multi-omics approach uncovers the regulatory role of CDK7 and CDK4 in autophagy activation induced by silica nanoparticles.

Dysfunction of macroautophagy/autophagy has been postulated as a major cellular toxicological response to nanomaterials. It has been reported that excessive autophagy activation, induced by silica nanoparticles (SiNPs), contributes to autophagy dysfunction, whereas little is known how SiNPs trigger autophagy activation. Here, we treated normal rat kidney (NRK) cells using 3 different sizes of SiNPs (16, 29, and 51 nm) and observed that 16-nm SiNPs, with a final concentration of 60 μg/mL, dramatically induce autophagy activation without reducing cell viability.

Reversible redox-responsive H/F MRI molecular probes.

Herein we report a pair of redox-responsive manganese complexes Mn(iii)/(ii)-N,N'-bis(2-hydroxy-4-trifluoromethylbenzyl)ethylenediamine-N,N'-diacetate (HTFBED, L1), which are water soluble and biologically interconvertible, as reversible redox-responsive probes in 1H/19F MRI for detecting and imaging biological redox species, offering a means to access valuable redox information associated with various diseases.

Cascaded Multiresponsive Self-Assembled F MRI Nanoprobes with Redox-Triggered Activation and NIR-Induced Amplification.

Molecular probes featuring promising capabilities including specific targeting, high signal-to-noise ratio, and visualization of deep tissues are in great demand for tumor diagnosis and therapy. F magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques incorporating stimuli-responsive probes are anticipated to be highly beneficial for specific detection and imaging of tumors because of negligible background and deep tissue penetration. Herein, we report a cascaded multiresponsive self-assembled nanoprobe, which enables sequential redox-triggered and near-infrared (NIR) irradiation-induced F MR signal activation/amplification for sensing and imaging.

DOTA-Branched Organic Frameworks as Giant and Potent Metal Chelators.

Multinuclear complexes as metallo-agents for clinical use have caught extensive attention. In this paper, using 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid (DOTA) as both a functioning unit and a constructing junction, we build a series of DOTA-branched organic frameworks with multiple chelating holes by organizing DOTA layer by layer. These giant chelators are well characterized, which reveals their nanosized and soft structures.

A fluorinated bihydrazide conjugate for activatable sensing and imaging of hypochlorous acid by F NMR/MRI.

Hypochlorous acid (HClO) is one of the most important reactive oxygen species (ROS) and plays a vital role in many physiological and pathological processes. The comprehensive exploration of mechanistic details and the potential clinical translation necessitate the development of reliable probes for prompt and accurate detection of HClO in complex biological environments. Herein we report a fluorinated bihydrazide conjugate as a 19F NMR/MRI probe with a "turn-on" character for the detection of HClO.

Versatile Octapod-Shaped Hollow Porous Manganese(II) Oxide Nanoplatform for Real-Time Visualization of Cargo Delivery.

Multifunctional nanoplatforms featuring promising properties including excellent loading efficiency, real-time monitoring, and improved cargo bioavailability and bioselectivity are in great demand by the biomedical research community. During the development of such nanoplatforms, stimuli-responsive nanoparticles (NPs) as a smart nanoplatform have recently received extensive attention. Herein, we report small-sized octapod-shaped hollow porous manganese(II) oxide (HPMO) NPs as a stimuli-responsive -activatable nanoplatform for tumor-specific cargo delivery and real-time monitoring.

Targeted arsenite-loaded magnetic multifunctional nanoparticles for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Arsenic trioxide (ATO), an FDA-approved drug for acute promyelocytic leukemia, also has great potential for treatment of solid tumors. Drug delivery powered by recent advances in nanotechnology has boosted the efficacy of many drugs, which is enlightening for applications of ATO in treating solid tumors. Herein, we reported arsenite-loaded multifunctional nanoparticles that are capable of pH-responsive ATO release for treating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and real-time monitoring via magnetic resonance imaging.

Gold nanoparticles impair autophagy flux through shape-dependent endocytosis and lysosomal dysfunction.

The physicochemical properties of nanoparticles have been tuned via various synthetic methods to improve their diagnostic or curative capability. However, systematic understanding of the relationship between their physicochemical properties and biological effects is still not well established. Particularly, the latent ability of nanomaterials to regulate autophagy has already drawn more attention.

Facile synthesis of aquo-cisplatin arsenite multidrug nanocomposites for overcoming drug resistance and efficient combination therapy.

Cisplatin (CDDP) and arsenic trioxide (ATO), two representative inorganic anticancer drugs, have been successful in the treatment against several kinds of malignancies. However, combination therapy with these two drugs in clinical application suffers from poor pharmacokinetics, serious side effects, and drug resistance of the tumor. Herein, we report a carrier-free aquo-cisplatin arsenite multidrug nanocomposite loaded with cisplatin and arsenic trioxide prodrugs simultaneously.