(18)F-DPA-714 is a PET tracer that recognizes macrophage translocator protein (TSPO), and (18)F-Alfatide II ((18)F-AlF-NOTA-E[PEG4-c(RGDfk)]2) is specific for integrin αvβ3. This study aims to apply these two tracers for longitudinal PET imaging of muscular inflammation, and evaluate the value of (18)F-DPA-714 in differentiating inflammation from tumor.

Gold nanorods (AuNR) have been intensively used in nanomedicine for cancer diagnostics and therapy, due to their excellent plasmonic photothermal properties. Tuning the size and aspect ratio of AuNR tailors the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in the NIR spectrum at which biological tissues are transparent, thus enables specific and effective treatment. The AuNR extravasates into tumor interstitium through enhanced permeation and retention (EPR) effect. Efficient AuNR based cancer therapy requires efficient AuNR tumor delivery. However, the size of AuNR can dramatically affect its blood circulation and tumor accumulation. Here we proposed for the first time a systematic framework to investigate the size-dependent kinetics of AuNRs during EPR mediated tumor delivery. By using 64Cu-labeled AuNRs with positron emission tomography (PET) and kinetic modeling, the in vivo uptake and kinetics of 64Cu-AuNR during its blood circulation, tumor accumulation and elimination were studied both in vitro and in vivo. The results of different sized AuNRs were compared and the optimum size of AuNR was suggested for EPR mediated tumor delivery. Our study provides a better understanding of the in vivo behavior of AuNR, which can help future design of nanomaterials for cancer imaging and therapy.

Folate receptor (FR) has proven to be a valuable target for chemotherapy using folic acid (FA) conjugates. However, FA-conjugated chemotherapeutics still have low therapeutic efficacy accompanied with side effects, resulting from complications such as short circulation half-life, limited tumor delivery, as well as high kidney accumulation. Herein, we present a novel FA-conjugated paclitaxel (PTX) prodrug which was additionally conjugated with an Evans blue (EB) derivative for albumin binding. The resulting bifunctional prodrug prolonged blood circulation, enhanced tumor accumulation, and consequently improved tumor therapeutic efficacy. Methods: Fmoc-Cys(Trt)-OH was coupled onto PTX at the 7'-OH position for further synthesis of ester prodrug FA-PTX-EB. The targeting ability was investigated using confocal microscopy and flow cytometry. The pharmacokinetics of this bifunctional compound was also studied. Meanwhile, cell viability was evaluated in normal cells and three cancer cell lines by MTT assay. In vivo therapeutic effect was tested on FR-α overexpressing MDA-MB-231 tumor model. Results: Compared with free PTX, the FA-PTX, PTX-EB and FA-PTX-EB prodrugs increased circulation half-life in mice from 2.19 to 3.82, 4.41, and 7.51 h, respectively. Pharmacokinetics studies showed that the FA-PTX-EB delivered more PTX to tumors than FA-PTX and free PTX. In vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated that FA-EB-conjugated PTX induced potent antitumor activity. Conclusion: FA-PTX-EB showed prolonged blood circulation, enhanced drug accumulation in tumors, higher therapeutic index, and lower side effects than either free PTX or monofunctional FA-PTX and EB-PTX. The results support the potential of using EB for the development of long-acting therapeutics.

Purpose: Evans Blue (EB) is an azo dye that binds quantitatively with serum albumin. With an albumin binding, NOTA conjugated truncated Evan's blue (NEB) dye derived PET tracer, we aimed to establish a strategy for evaluating vascular permeability in malignant tumors via non-invasive PET. Experimental design: Sixty-minute dynamic PET using [18F]FAl-NEB was performed in three xenograft tumor models including INS-1 rat insulinoma, UM-SCC-22B human head and neck carcinoma and U-87 MG human glioblastoma. Tumor vascular permeability was quantified by the difference of the slopes between tumor and blood time-activity curve (TACs, expressed as Ps ). The method was further substantiated by EB extraction and colorimetric assay and correlates with that calculated from dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI). The changes in tumor vasculature at different time points were assessed with NEB PET in U-87 MG and UM-SCC-22B tumor models after treatment with bevacizumab or doxorubicin. Result: The Ps values calculated from tumor and blood TACs from multiple time-point static images are consistent with those from dynamic images. Moreover, the Ps showed a positive and significant correlation with extracted EB concentration and KPS-MRI generated from DCE-MRI, which further confirmed the soundness of this methodology. The antiangiogenic effect of bevacizumab could be revealed by NEB PET in U-87 MG tumors as early as 8 hrs after therapy, demonstrated by a substantial decrease of Ps. On the contrary, there was no significant change of Ps in bevacizumab treated UM-SCC-22B tumors, compared with control group. However, the significant changes of Ps were overestimated in doxorubicin treated UM-SCC-22B tumors. Conclusions: We successfully developed a relatively convenient and novel strategy to evaluate vascular permeability and blood volume using NEB PET. This method will be advantageous in evaluating vascular permeability, promoting drug delivery, and monitoring tumor response to therapeutics that affect tumor angiogenesis.

Direct bromination of the tyrosine residues of peptides and antibodies with bromine-76, to create probes for PET imaging, has been reported. For peptides that do not contain tyrosine residues, however, a prosthetic group is required to achieve labeling via conjugation to other functional groups such as terminal α-amines or lysine ε-amines. The goal of this study was to develop new strategies for labeling small peptides with Br-76 using either a direct labeling method or a prosthetic group, depending on the available functional group on the peptides. A new labeling agent, N-succinimidyl-3-[(76)Br]bromo-2,6-dimethoxybenzoate ([(76)Br]SBDMB) was prepared for cyclic RGD peptide labeling. N-succinimidyl-2, 6-dimethoxybenzoate was also used to pre-attach a 2, 6-dimethoxybenzoyl (DMB) moiety to the peptide, which could then be labeled with Br-76. A competitive cell binding assay was performed to determine the binding affinity of the brominated peptides. PET imaging of U87MG human glioblastoma xenografted mice was performed using [(76)Br]-BrE[c(RGDyK)](2) and [(76)Br]-BrDMB-E[c(RGDyK)](2). An ex vivo biodistribution assay was performed to confirm PET quantification. The mechanisms of bromination reaction between DMB-c(RGDyK) and the brominating agent CH(3)COOBr were investigated with the SCRF-B3LYP/6-31G* method with the Gaussian 09 program package. The yield for direct labeling of c(RGDyK) and E[c(RGDyK)](2) using chloramine-T and peracetic acid at ambient temperature was greater than 50%. The yield for [(76)Br]SBDMB was over 60% using peracetic acid. The conjugation yields for labeling c(RGDfK) and c(RGDyK) were over 70% using the prosthetic group at room temperature. Labeling yield for pre-conjugated peptides was over 60%. SDMB conjugation and bromination did not affect the binding affinity of the peptides with integrin receptors. Both [(76)Br]Br-E[c(RGDyK)](2) and [(76)Br]BrDMB-E[c(RGDyK)](2) showed high tumor uptake in U87MG tumor bearing mice. The specificity of the imaging tracers was confirmed by decreased tumor uptake after co-administration of unlabeled dimeric RGD peptides. The energy barrier of the transition state of bromination for the dimethoxybenzoyl group was about 9 kcal/mol lower than that for the tyrosine residue. In conclusion, the newly developed N-succinimidyl-2, 6-dimethoxybenzoate molecule can be used either for one step labeling through pre-conjugation or as the precursor for a Br-76 labeled prosthetic group for indirect labeling. Radiobromination on a dimethoxybenzoyl group has selectivity over radiobromination on tyrosine. The energy barrier difference of the transition states of bromination between the dimethoxybenzoyl group and the tyrosine residue may account for the reaction selectivity when both groups are present in the same molecule.

The GLP-1 receptor plays an important role in glucose homeostasis and thus is a very important target for diabetes therapy. The receptor is also overexpressed in insulinoma, a tumor of pancreatic beta-cells. We previously evaluated two fluorine-18-labeled analogs of exendin-4 prepared by conjugation with [(18)F]FBEM (N-[2-(4-[(18)F]fluorobenzamide)ethyl]maleimide). Both compounds demonstrated good tumor uptake, but the synthesis of the radiotracers was time consuming. To overcome this challenge, we developed a NOTA analog and performed radiolabeling using aluminum [(18)F]fluoride complexation.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS)-generating anticancer agents can act through two different mechanisms: (i) elevation of endogenous ROS production in mitochondria, or (ii) formation/delivery of exogenous ROS within cells. However, there is a lack of research on the development of ROS-generating nanosystems that combine endogenous and exogenous ROS to enhance oxidative stress-mediated cancer cell death. Methods: A ROS-generating agent based on polymer-modified zinc peroxide nanoparticles (ZnO2 NPs) was presented, which simultaneously delivered exogenous H2O2 and Zn2+ capable of amplifying endogenous ROS production for synergistic cancer therapy. Results: After internalization into tumor cells, ZnO2 NPs underwent decomposition in response to mild acidic pH, resulting in controlled release of H2O2 and Zn2+. Intriguingly, Zn2+ could increase the production of mitochondrial O2·- and H2O2 by inhibiting the electron transport chain, and thus exerted anticancer effect in a synergistic manner with the exogenously released H2O2 to promote cancer cell killing. Furthermore, ZnO2 NPs were doped with manganese via cation exchange, making them an activatable magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent. Conclusion: This study establishes a ZnO2-based theranostic nanoplatform which achieves enhanced oxidative damage to cancer cells by a two-pronged approach of combining endogenous and exogenous ROS.

Molecular photoacoustic imaging (PA) is a promising technology to understand tumor pathology and guide precision therapeutics. Despite the capability of activatable PA probes to image tumor-specific biomarkers, limitations in their molecular structure hamper them from effective drug delivery and the drug release monitoring. Herein, we developed a perylene diimide (PDI) based theranostic platform that provides noninvasive PA imaging signals to monitor tumor-specific pH-responsive drug release. Methods: we first designed and synthesized an acid-responsive amine-substituted PDI derivative. The pH sensitive properties of the PDI was demonstrated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, UV-vis experiments and PA studies. The theranostic platform (THPDINs) was fabricated by self-assembly of the acid-responsive PDI, a pH irrelevant IR825 dye, and anti-cancer drug doxorubicin (DOX). The PA properties in various pH environment, drug delivery, cytotoxicity, cell uptake, ratiometric PA imaging and anti-tumor efficacy of the THPDINs were investigated in vitro and in vivo by using U87MG glioma cell line and U87MG tumor model. Results: We found that our designed PDI was sensitive to the tumor specific pH environment, reflected by absorbance shift, PA intensity and aggregation morphology changes in aqueous solution. The as-synthesized pH sensitive PDI acted as a molecular switch in the THPDINs, in which the switch can be triggered in the mild acidic tumor microenvironment to accelerate DOX release. Meanwhile, the DOX release could be monitored by ratiometric PA imaging. Conclusions: We developed a multifunctional PDI based theranostic platform for noninvasive real-time ratiometric PA imaging of tumor acidic pH and monitoring of drug release in living mice simultaneously. This strategy will shed light on the development of smart activatable theranostic nanoplatforms and will significantly advance the application of PA theranostics in biology and medicine.

The efficacy of therapeutic drugs is highly dependent on their optimal in vivo pharmacokinetics. Albumin conjugation is considered to be one of the most effective means of protracting the short lifespan of peptides and proteins. In this study, we proposed a novel platform for developing long lasting therapeutics by conjugating a small molecular albumin binding moiety, truncated Evans blue, to either peptides or proteins. Using the anti-diabetic peptide drug Exendin-4 as a model peptide, we synthesized a new long-acting Exendin-4 derivative (denoted as Abextide). Through complexation with albumin in situ, the biological half-life of Abextide was significantly extended. The hypoglycemic effect of Abextide was also improved remarkably over Exendin-4. Thus, Abextide has considerable potential to treat type 2 diabetes. This strategy as a general technology platform can be applied to other small molecules and biologics for the development of long-acting therapeutic drugs.

Combination cancer treatment has emerged as a critical approach to achieve remarkable anticancer effect. In this study, we prepared a theranostic nanoformulation that allows for photoacoustic imaging as well as combination gene and photothermal therapy. Gold nanorods (GNR) were coated with dipicolyl amine (DPA), which forms stable complexes with Zn2+ cations. The resulting nanoparticles, Zn(II)/DPA-GNR, recognize phosphate-containing molecules, including siRNA, because of the specific interaction between Zn(II) and the phosphates. We chose anti-polo-like kinase 1 siRNA (siPLK) as our example for gene silencing. The strong complexation between Zn(II)/DPA-GNR and siPLK provided high stability to the nano-complexes, which efficiently delivered siRNA into the targeted cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. The particle served as a theranostic agent because the GNRs of nano-complexes permitted effective photothermal therapy as well as photoacoustic imaging upon laser irradiation. This gene/photothermal combination therapy using siPLK/Zn(II)DPA-GNRs exhibited significant antitumor activity in a PC-3 tumor mouse model. The concept described in this work may be extended to the development of efficient delivery strategies for other polynucleotides as well as advanced anticancer therapy.

The design of hybrid metal-organic framework (MOF) nanomaterials by integrating inorganic nanoparticle into MOF (NP@MOF) has demonstrated outstanding potential for obtaining enhanced, collective, and extended novel physiochemical properties. However, the reverse structure of MOF-integrated inorganic nanoparticle (MOF@NP) with multifunction has rarely been reported. Methods: We developed a facile in-situ growth method to integrate MOF nanoparticle into inorganic nanomaterial and designed a fluorescence switch to trigger enhanced photodynamic therapy. The influence of "switch" on the photodynamic activity was studied in vitro. The in vivo mice with tumor model was applied to evaluate the "switch"-triggered enhanced photodynamic therapy efficacy. Results: A core-satellites structure with fluorescence off and on function was obtained when growing MnO2 on the surface of fluorescent zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) nanoparticles. Furthermore, A core-shell structure with photodynamic activity off and on function was achieved by growing MnO2 on the surface of porphyrinic ZrMOF nanoparticles (ZrMOF@MnO2). Both the fluorescence and photodynamic activities can be turned off by MnO2 and turned on by GSH. The GSH-responsive activation of photodynamic activity of ZrMOF@MnO2 significantly depleted the intracellular GSH via a MnO2 reduction reaction, thus triggering an enhanced photodynamic therapy efficacy. Finally, the GSH-reduced Mn2+ provided a platform for magnetic resonance imaging-guided tumor therapy. Conclusion: This work highlights the impact of inorganic nanomaterial on the MOF properties and provides insight to the rational design of multifunctional MOF-inorganic nanomaterial complexes.

Purpose: Radionuclide therapy directed against tumors that express somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) has proven effective for the treatment of advanced, low- to intermediate-grade neuroendocrine tumors in the clinic. In clinical usage, somatostatin peptide-based analogs, labeled with therapeutic radionuclides, provide an overall response rate of about 30%, despite the high cumulative activity injected per patient. We set out to improve the effectiveness of somatostatin radiotherapy by preparing a chemical analog that would clear more slowly through the urinary tract and, concomitantly, have increased blood circulation half-life and higher targeted accumulation in the tumors. Experimental Design: We conjugated a common, clinically-used SST peptide derivative, DOTA-octreotate, to an Evans blue analog (EB), which reversibly binds to circulating serum albumin. The resulting molecule was used to chelate 86Y and 90Y, a diagnostic and a therapeutic radionuclide, respectively. The imaging capabilities and the radiotherapeutic efficacy of the resulting radioligand was evaluated in HCT116/SSTR2, HCT116, and AR42J cell lines that express differing levels of SST2 receptors. Results: The synthesized radiopharmaceutical retained affinity and specificity to SSTR2. The new molecule also retained the high internalization rate of DOTA-octreotate, and therefore, showed significantly higher accumulation in SSTR2-positive tumors. Labeling of our novel EB-octreotate derivative with the therapeutic, pure beta emitter, 90Y, resulted in improved tumor response and survival rates of mice bearing SSTR2 xenografts and had long term efficacy when compared to DOTA-octreotate itself. Conclusions: The coupling of a targeted peptide, a therapeutic radionuclide, and the EB‑based albumin binding provides for effective treatment of SSTR2-containing tumors.

Graphene, a 2-dimensional carbon nanomaterial, has attracted wide attention in biomedical applications, owing to its intrinsic physical and chemical properties. In this work, a photosensitizer molecule, 2-(1-hexyloxyethyl)-2-devinyl pyropheophorbide-alpha (HPPH or Photochlor®), is loaded onto polyethylene glycol (PEG)-functionalized graphene oxide (GO) via supramolecular π-π stacking. The obtained GO-PEG-HPPH complex shows high HPPH loading efficiency. The in vivo distribution and delivery were tracked by fluorescence imaging as well as positron emission tomography (PET) after radiolabeling of HPPH with (64)Cu. Compared with free HPPH, GO-PEG-HPPH offers dramatically improved photodynamic cancer cell killing efficacy due to the increased tumor delivery of HPPH. Our study identifies a role for graphene as a carrier of PDT agents to improve PDT efficacy and increase long-term survival following treatment.

Expression of CXCR4 in cancer has been found to correlate with poor prognosis and resistance to chemotherapy. In this study we developed a derivative of the CXCR4 peptide antagonist, T140-2D, that can be labeled easily with the PET isotope copper-64, and thereby enable in vivo visualization of CXCR4 in tumors. T140 was conjugated to 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid mono (N-hydroxysuccinimide ester) (DOTA-NHS) to give T140-2D, which contains a DOTA molecule on each of the two lysine residues. (64)Cu-T140-2D was evaluated in vitro by migration and binding experiments, and in vivo by microPET imaging and biodistribution, in mice bearing CXCR4-positive and CXCR4-negative tumor xenografts. T140-2D was labeled with copper-64 to give (64)Cu-T140-2D in a high radiochemical yield of 86 ± 3% (not decay-corrected) and a specific activity of 0.28 - 0.30 mCi/µg (10.36 - 11.1 MBq/µg). (64)Cu-T140-2D had antagonistic and binding characteristics to CXCR4 that were similar to those of T140. In vivo, (64)Cu-T140-2D tended to bind to red blood cells and had to be used in a low specific activity form. In this new form (64)Cu-T140-2D enabled specific imaging of CXCR4-positive, but not CXCR4-negative tumors. Undesirably, however, (64)Cu-T140-2D also displayed high accumulation in the liver and kidneys. In conclusion, (64)Cu-T140-2D was easily labeled and, in its low activity form, enabled imaging of CXCR4 in tumors. It had high uptake, however, in metabolic organs. Further research with imaging tracers targeting CXCR4 is required.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is one of the most important mediators of angiogenesis. Single-chain (sc)-VEGF protein containing an N-terminal Cys-tag has been designed for site-specific modification with a variety of imaging and therapeutic moieties. Site-specific labeling of scVEGF with thiol-reactive prosthetic group, N-[2-(4-(18)F-fluorobenzamido) ethyl] maleimide ([(18)F]FBEM) for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of VEFGR may provide a new tracer which has great potential for clinical translation.

It remains a major challenge to achieve precise on-demand drug release. Here, we developed a modular nanomedicine integrated with logic-gated system enabling programmable drug release for on-demand chemotherapy. Methods: We employed two different logical AND gates consisting of four interrelated moieties to construct the nanovesicles, denoted as v-A-CED2, containing oxidation-responsive nanovesicles (v), radical generators (A), and Edman linker conjugated prodrugs (CED2). The first AND logic gate is connected in parallel by mild hyperthermia ( I ) and acidic pH ( II ), which executes NIR laser triggered prodrug-to-drug transformation through Edman degradation. Meanwhile, the mild hyperthermia effect triggers alkyl radical generation ( III ) which contributes to internal oxidation and degradation of nanovesicles ( IV ). The second AND logic gate is therefore formed by the combination of I-IV to achieve programmable drug release by a single stimulus input NIR laser. The biodistribution of the nanovesicles was monitored by positron emission tomography (PET), photoacoustic, and fluorescence imaging. Results: The developed modular nanovesicles exhibited high tumor accumulation and effective anticancer effects both in vitro and in vivo. Conclusions: This study provides a novel paradigm of logic-gated programmable drug release system by a modular nanovesicle, which may shed light on innovation of anticancer agents and strategies.

Diabetic foot ulcers are associated with significant morbidity and mortality, and current treatments are far from optimal. Chronic wounds in diabetes are characterised by impaired angiogenesis, leukocyte function, fibroblast proliferation, and keratinocyte migration and proliferation. Methods: We tested the effect of exposure to argon gas on endothelial cell, fibroblast, macrophage and keratinocyte cell cultures in vitro and in vivo of a streptozotocin-induced diabetic mouse model. Results: Exposure to normobaric argon gas promotes multiple steps of the wound healing process. Argon accelerated angiogenesis, associated with upregulation of pro-angiogenic Angiopoietin-1 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signalling in vitro and in vivo. Treatment with argon enhanced expression of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β, early recruitment of macrophages and keratinocyte proliferation. Argon had a pro-survival effect, inducing expression of cytoprotective mediators B-cell lymphoma 2 and heme oxygenase 1. Argon was able to accelerate wound closure in a diabetic mouse model. Conclusion: Together these findings indicate that argon gas may be a promising candidate for clinical use in treatment of diabetic ulcers.