Near-infrared light makes drugs "guide" faster and more accurate

Near-infrared light makes drugs "guide" faster and more accurate, and tumor visualization targeted therapy is expected to be realized

The team of Professor Chang Jin of Tianjin University applied the near-infrared light control technology to the selective expression of genes for the first time, and developed a platform technology for targeted therapy of tumors by selective irradiation of near-infrared light. The research results "selective light-controlled gene expression based on up-converting microrods" was published in the international authoritative journal "Advanced Materials".

Traditional chemotherapeutic drugs also kill normal cells while killing tumor cells. Therefore, in recent years, "tumor targeted therapy" has become a research hotspot in the field of cancer therapy. Chang Jin said: "The central region of the tumor can be concentrated by controlling the near-infrared light, so that the therapeutic drug acts only in the tumor region irradiated by near-infrared light, thereby minimizing the side effects of the anticancer drug on normal tissues and cells of the human body."

The result of the research is to connect the silica microsphere carrier carrying the green fluorescent protein gene (as a therapeutic gene and a drug model) with one end of the photosensitive molecule, and then connect the other end of the photosensitive molecule to the upconverting microrod. The conjugate is co-cultured with cancer cells. When the near-infrared light illuminates the cancer cells, the up-converting micro-rod of the combination converts the near-infrared light into ultraviolet light, and the ultraviolet light causes the photosensitive molecule and the up-converting micro-rod to be broken, so that the silica carrier carrying the green fluorescent protein gene is enabled. Enter the cancer cells. When the microenvironment in cancer cells releases the green fluorescent protein gene (as a therapeutic gene and drug model) from silica and transcribes and translates into a protein that emits green fluorescence, this can be observed by ordinary fluorescence microscopy. result. If the green fluorescent protein gene in this system is replaced with the therapeutic gene and drug labeled with fluorescent nanomaterials, the therapeutic process of the therapeutic gene and the drug in the tumor cell can be dynamically monitored by fluorescence confocal microscopy to realize visualized targeted therapy.