Micelles assembled with carbocyanine dyes for theranostic near-infrared fluorescent cancer imaging and photothermal therapy

It is an emerging focus to explore a theranostic nanocarrier for simultaneous cancer imaging and therapy. Herein, we demonstrate a theranostic micelle system for cancer near infrared fluorescent (NIRF) imaging with enhanced signal to noise ratio and superior photothermal therapy. The copolymers consisting of monomethoxy poly(ethylene glycol) and alkylamine-grafted poly(l-aspartic acid) are assembled with carbocyanine dyes into theranostic micelles, which exhibit small size, high loading capacity, good stability, sustained release behavior, and enhanced cellular uptake. The micelles achieve the preferable biodistribution and long-term retention of carbocyanine dyes at tumor, which result in enhanced NIRF imaging by generating stable retention of NIRF signals at both hypervascular and hypovascular tumors during a long-term imaging period of up to 8 day, accompanying with negligible noise at normal tissues. The photostability of carbocyanine dye (Cypate) plays an important role for long-term cancer imaging with enhanced SNR. Moreover, the micelles exhibit severe photothermal damage on cancer cells via the destabilization of subcellular organelles upon photoirradiation, causing superior photothermal tumor regress. The micelles act as a powerful theranostic nanocarrier for simultaneous cancer imaging with high contrast and superior photothermal therapy.