Gadolinium-decorated casein micelles carrying indocyanine green J-aggregates as a versatile platform for dual-modal imaging-guided phototherapy

PICCHIO, MATÍAS L.; CUGGINO, JULIO C.; WEDEPOHL, STEPHANIE; BERGUEIRO, JULIÁN; CALDERON, MARCELO

Modalidad Virtual

Conferencia; III SPANISH CONFERENCE ON BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS OF NANOMATERIALS; 2020

HOTZYMES consortium members

Clinical translation of theranostics medicines for cancer phototherapy has been limited by the lack of nanoagents combining both low toxicity, required for regulatory approval, and good photostability. Here, we report on novel biodegradable theranostic nanovehicles, which can simultaneously serve as a magnetic resonance (MR)/fluorescence multimodal imaging probe and an effective photothermal agent. These nanoagents are based on the confinement of indocyanine green J-aggregates (J-ICG) in Gd3+-decorated casein micelles (Figure 1A), which act as a depot of the dye monomer allowing multiple near-infrared (NIR)-irradiation cycles with minimal photobleaching (Figure 1B). The design of this nanoprobe was aimed to overcome the poor stability of the J-ICG in biological environments. We found that by trapping the self-assembled NIR-absorbing dye into the micelles, its dissociation under dilute conditions can be significantly slowed down or even hindered for several days. More importantly, micelles/J-ICG nanosystem was highly effective to provoke cellular ablation in vitro studies. Finally, with tunable biodegradability, high stability in biological microenvironments, dual-modal imaging ability, and strong heat generation under NIR-light, the theranostic nanoplatform presented in this study may be a powerful therapeutic tool for photothermal therapy in cancer treatment.