Preparation of the Biodegradable Lymphatic Targeting Imaging Agent Based on the Indocyanine Green Mesoporous Silicon System.

Man Duan,Dongmei Han,Xinyu Wang,Kun Chang,Wenbin Shen,Jianshi Du,Nan Gao

doi:10.3389/fchem.2022.847929

Abstract

The lymphatic system plays a crucial role in the immune system’s recognition and response to disease. Therefore, the imaging of the lymphatic system, especially lymphatic vessels, has emerged as a valuable tool for the diagnosis of metastasis. FDA-approved small-molecule dyes, namely, indocyanine green (ICG), have been widely applied to lymphatic vessels imaging. However, due to the small physical size, such molecule-based agents show no selectivity, and rapid clearance from lymph nodes. Herein, a biodegradable lymphatic targeting imaging agent based on the ICG-mesoporous silicon system (ICG@HMONs-HA) was obtained, which not only could target lymph vessels but also had a long residence time. The reported work provides a practical way for lymph vessel fluorescence imaging and paves the way for clinical translation of nanomaterial-based tracers.

Highlights

The lymphatic system, composed of the circulatory system with the blood circulating system, plays a crucial role in the immune system’s recognition and response to disease (Oliver, 2004; Oliver and Alitalo, 2005; Tammela and Alita, 2010; Petrova and Koh, 2017)
It is observed that hollow mesoporous organo-silica nanoparticle (HMON)-NH2 had a diameter of 100 nm, which is ideal for lymphatic tracing because nanotracers with this size will permeate into lymphatic capillaries (Figure 1)
The characterization experiments previously showed that the HMONs-NH2 suspension injection used in the clinic possesses favorable physical properties, such as tunable size and optical absorbance, making it an excellent nanocarrier for lymphatic vessels imaging

Summary

Introduction

The lymphatic system, composed of the circulatory system with the blood circulating system, plays a crucial role in the immune system’s recognition and response to disease (Oliver, 2004; Oliver and Alitalo, 2005; Tammela and Alita, 2010; Petrova and Koh, 2017). Regional lymph nodes act as reservoirs where cancer cells take root and seed into other parts of the body (Bouta et al, 2018; Wang et al, 2019). The identification of metastasis within the sentinel lymph node (SLN) is a key criterion for prognostic assessment, minimally invasive tumor staging, and treatment planning. The imaging of the lymphatic system, especially lymphatic vessels, has emerged as a valuable tool for the diagnosis of metastasis. Practiced lymphatic vessels imaging techniques include positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (Zhang et al, 2012; Qiao et al, 2015; Polomska and Proulx, 2021). There is an urgent need to design non-invasive probes to accelerate the achievement of accurate SLN mapping in clinical settings (Trevaskis et al, 2015)

Methods

Results

Conclusion