Abstract
AbstractPhotoacoustic imaging (PAI) is an emerging noninvasive and inexpensive bioimaging modality, which has stimulated a wide interest in recent years for cancer theranostics. Hybrid nano‐ and microgels have been designed as protective carriers to incorporate PAI contrast agents due to their biocompatibility and biodegradability, high loading capacity, versatile surface chemistry, and stimuli‐responsive properties. These key features offer unprecedented opportunities for the design of innovative multifunctional cancer theranostic agents. This review focuses on the recent development of photoacoustic active nano‐ and microgels for biomedical applications in cancer theranostics and cancer hallmark imaging. The various chemical natures of gels and PAI contrast agents and the elaboration methods of hybrid matrices are summarized and discussed. Their applications in multimodal cancer theranostics and cancer hallmark imaging are presented, highlighting their merits and potential in treatment and diagnosis.
Highlights
Imaging in medical oncology has recently experienced major breakthrough with the arrival of new molecular imaging techniques devoted to the early diagnosis of cancer and to treatment monitoring
We introduce the basic concepts for the design of hybrid microgels in the domain of photoacoustic imaging (PAI)
This article provides an up-to-date review on the development of nano- and microgels doped with PA contrast agents for PAI in cancer theranostics
Summary
Imaging in medical oncology has recently experienced major breakthrough with the arrival of new molecular imaging techniques devoted to the early diagnosis of cancer and to treatment monitoring. Compared to ultrasound imaging, PAI offers a high and rich optical contrast, which enables to separate absorbing structures from the background and to distinguish absorbers based on their absorption spectra.[8] Endogenous absorbing molecules, such as oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin and melanin, have been efficiently used for the visualization of vessel structures, the quantification of blood oxygenation and the detection of melanoma.[9,10] only few types of endogenous biomolecules can be exploited for intrinsic PAI, limiting its range of applications To overcome these barriers and boost PAI specificity, many efforts have been devoted to the development of exogenous contrast agents. The methods to synthesize hybrid assemblies are described and their applications in cancer-related PAI and biomedicine are summarized focusing on two main orientations: (i) multimodal cancer theranostics including PAI or/and synergistic therapy; and (ii) cancer hallmark detection and microenvironment investigation using PAI
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