A Transistor-like pH Nanoprobe for Tumour Detection and Image-guided Surgery
Tian Zhao, Gang Huang, Yang Li, Shunchun Yang, Saleh Ramezani, Zhiqiang Lin, Yiguang Wang, Xinpeng Ma, Zhiqun Zeng, Min Luo, Esther de Boer, Xian-Jin Xie, Joel Thibodeaux, Rolf A Brekken, Xiankai Sun, Baran D Sumer, Jinming Gao, Tian Zhao, Gang Huang, Yang Li, Shunchun Yang, Saleh Ramezani, Zhiqiang Lin, Yiguang Wang, Xinpeng Ma, Zhiqun Zeng, Min Luo, Esther de Boer, Xian-Jin Xie, Joel Thibodeaux, Rolf A Brekken, Xiankai Sun, Baran D Sumer, Jinming Gao
Abstract
Because of profound genetic and histological differences in cancerous tissue, it is challenging to detect a broad range of malignant tumours at high resolution. Here, we report the design and performance of a fluorescent nanoprobe with transistor-like responses (transition pH = 6.9) for the detection of the deregulated pH that drives many of the invasive properties of cancer. The nanoprobe amplifies fluorescence signal in the tumour over that in the surrounding normal tissues, resulting in a discretized, binary output signal with spatial resolution smaller than 1 mm. The nanoprobe allowed us to image a broad range of tumours in mouse models using a variety of clinical cameras, and to perform real-time tumour-acidosis-guided detection and surgery of occult nodules (< 1 mm3) in mice bearing head-and-neck or breast tumours, significantly lengthening mice survivability. We also show that the pH nanoprobe can be used as a reporter in a fast, quantitative assay to screen for tumour-acidosis inhibitors. The binary delineation of pH achieved by the nanoprobe promises to improve the accuracy of cancer detection, surveillance and therapy.
Conflict of interest statement
Competing Financial Interests B.D.S. and J.G. are scientific co-founders of OncoNano Medicine, Inc.. The authors declare competing financial interests: details accompany the full-text HTML version of the paper at http://www.nature.com/natbiomedeng/
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