Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising non-invasive strategy for breast cancer, yet its clinical translation is hindered by fluorescence quenching, insufficient reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and poor tumor targeting. Herein, a novel lipid droplet-targeted aggregation-induced emission (AIE) photosensitizer CTC was designed and synthesized. CTC has a large Stokes shift of 150 nm to avoid self-absorption and exhibits typical AIE properties in aqueous environments. Under white light irradiation, it efficiently generates three cytotoxic ROS (1O2, ·OH, O2•-), with a high colocalization coefficient of 0.95 with lipid droplets in 4 T1 cells. CTC shows excellent biocompatibility in the dark and potent phototoxicity under illumination. In vivo, CTC combined with light significantly inhibits 4 T1 tumor growth without systemic toxicity. Density functional theory calculations elucidate its multi-type ROS generation mechanism, providing a novel candidate and new insight for safe and efficient breast cancer PDT.
Yukun Zhang, Lidong Deng, Qiyan Li et al.· Bioorganic chemistry (Print)· 0 citations
Thiophenol (PhSH) is a highly toxic aromatic thiol endangering ecosystems, food safety, and human health. Traditional detection methods are limited by instrument dependence and inability for real-time imaging. This study developed a red-emitting fluorescent probe, TTCP-DN, based on the PET mechanism. The probe employs 5-(4-diphenylamino)benzothiophene as the fluorophore and 2,4-dinitrophenoxy as the PhSH-specific recognition moiety, achieving mitochondrial targeting via a pyridine salt. Without PhSH, fluorescence is quenched; upon PhSH-induced reaction, fluorescence restores at 623 nm. The probe has low detection limit (37.8 nM), large Stokes shift (153 nm), good biocompatibility, and high selectivity. It was applied for mitochondrial imaging in 4 T1 cells, qualitative detection and semi-quantitative concentration trend analysis of PhSH in zebrafish, plant tissues, environmental, food and biological samples (recoveries 95-105%), and fabricated into portable paper-based test strips. This work provides a versatile PhSH detection tool and a paradigm for targeted probes of toxic aromatic pollutants.
Yukun Zhang, Xiaoli Li, Ruiyuan Liu et al.· Food Chemistry· 0 citations