Fluorescence Dual-modal Imaging Research Articles

Targeted radionuclide and fluorescence dual-modality imaging of cancer: preclinical advances and clinical translation.

In oncology, sensitive and reliable detection tumor tissue is crucial to prevent recurrences and to improve surgical outcome. Currently, extensive research is focused on the use of radionuclides as well as fluorophores to provide real-time guidance during surgery to aid the surgeon in the identification of malignant tissue. Particularly, dual-modality approaches combining radionuclide and near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging have shown promising results in preclinical studies. Radionuclide imaging allows sensitive intra-operative localization of tumor lesions using a gamma probe, whereas NIRF imaging allows more accurate real-time tumor delineation. Consequently, both radionuclide and NIRF imaging might complement each other, and dual-modality image-guided surgery may overcome limitations of the currently used single-modality imaging techniques. In this review, a comprehensive overview on recent preclinical advances in tumor-targeted radionuclide and fluorescence dual-modality imaging is provided. Subsequently, the clinical applicability of dual-modality image-guided surgery is discussed.

Gold nanoparticle cluster–plasmon-enhanced fluorescent silica core–shell nanoparticles for X-ray computed tomography–fluorescence dual-mode imaging of tumors

Owing to the surface plasmon resonance-enhanced electromagnetic field, clustered gold nanoparticles-fluorescent silica core-shell nanoparticles became excited within the therapeutic window and fluoresced strongly in this window. The nanoparticles enabled tumor detection using fluorescence imaging and X-ray computed tomography.

Responsive fluorescent Bi2O3@PVA hybrid nanogels for temperature-sensing, dual-modal imaging, and drug delivery

The polymer-inorganic hybrid nanogels with temperature-responsive characteristic are of considerable current interest to many fields ranging from fundamental biomaterials science to bionanomedicine. This paper reports the preparation of temperature-responsive hybrid nanogels by immobilization of Bi2O3 quantum dots (QDs) in the interior of a nanogel of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). Unlike conventional temperature-responsive hybrid nanogels with the responsive features deriving from the temperature-responsive polymers (e.g. PNIPAMs or non-linear PEGs), we demonstrate that QDs can work cooperatively with the gel networks of PVA, an unconventional responsive polymer, to enable the temperature-induced volume phase transition of the designed Bi2O3@PVA hybrid nanogels. Building on the rationales, Bi2O3@PVA hybrid nanogels can adapt to a surrounding fluids of different temperatures over the physiologically important range of 37–40 °C, convert the disruptions in homeostasis of environmental temperature into high-sensitive fluorescent signals, enter into the mouse melanoma B16F10 cells for dark-field and fluorescence dual-modal imaging, and regulate the release of a model anticancer drug temozolomide. The unconventional strategy that can broaden the design scheme of temperature-responsive hybrid nanogels for theranostic action should enhance our ability to address the complexity of biological systems.