Activatable near infrared dye conjugated hyaluronic acid based nanoparticles as a targeted theranostic agent for enhanced fluorescence/CT/photoacoustic imaging guided photothermal therapy

Theranostic agent of PFOB@IR825-HA-Cy5.5 NPs was successfully fabricated. PFOB showed good capability to absorb the X-rays, Cy5.5 on the outer surface acted as fluorescent probe, while IR825 in the core as photothermal agent. By utilizing the fluorescence quench effect of the two dyes and degradability of HA by hyaluronidase (Hyal-1) in the tumor, strong fluorescence enhancement could be achieved to delineate the tumor more clearly. Such theranostic agent demonstrated excellent diagnostics capability without compromising the photothermal therapy efficacy, and can be utilized as an active targeting agent for triple X-ray computed tomography (CT), photoacoustic and activatable fluorescence imaging guided photothermal ablation of tumors.217