Synthesis of a theranostic agent: radioiodinated PEGylated PLGA-indocyanine capsules and in vitro determination of their bioaffinity on ovarian, cervical and breast cancer cells

Leveraging Engineering of Indocyanine Green-Encapsulated Polymeric Nanocomposites for Biomedical Applications

In recent times, photo-induced therapeutics have attracted enormous interest from researchers due to such attractive properties as preferential localization, excellent tissue penetration, high therapeutic efficacy, and minimal invasiveness, among others. Numerous photosensitizers have been considered in combination with light to realize significant progress in therapeutics. Along this line, indocyanine green (ICG), a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved near-infrared (NIR, >750 nm) fluorescent dye, has been utilized in various biomedical applications such as drug delivery, imaging, and diagnosis, due to its attractive physicochemical properties, high sensitivity, and better imaging view field. However, ICG still suffers from certain limitations for its utilization as a molecular imaging probe in vivo, such as concentration-dependent aggregation, poor in vitro aqueous stability and photodegradation due to various physicochemical attributes. To overcome these limitations, much research has been dedicated to engineering numerous multifunctional polymeric composites for potential biomedical applications. In this review, we aim to discuss ICG-encapsulated polymeric nanoconstructs, which are of particular interest in various biomedical applications. First, we emphasize some attractive properties of ICG (including physicochemical characteristics, optical properties, metabolic features, and other aspects) and some of its current limitations. Next, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview highlighting recent reports on various polymeric nanoparticles that carry ICG for light-induced therapeutics with a set of examples. Finally, we summarize with perspectives highlighting the significant outcome, and current challenges of these nanocomposites.

131I-Traced PLGA-Lipid Nanoparticles as Drug Delivery Carriers for the Targeted Chemotherapeutic Treatment of Melanoma

Herein, folic acid (FA) conjugated Poly(d,l-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA)-lipid composites (FA-PL) were developed as nanocarriers for the targeted delivery of insoluble anti-cancer drug paclitaxel (PTX), resulting FA-PLP nanoparticles. Furthermore, ¹³¹I, as a radioactive tracer, was used to label FA-PLP nanoparticles (FA-PLP-¹³¹I) to evaluate their cell uptake activity, in vivo blood circulation, and biodistribution. The FA-PLP-¹³¹I nanoparticles had a spherical morphology with great stability, a narrow size distribution (165.6 and 181.2 nm), and -22.1 mV in average zeta potential. Confocal laser scanning microscopy indicated that the targeting molecule FA promotes PLP-¹³¹I uptake by melanoma B16F10 cells, which was further confirmed by the cell incorporation rate via ¹³¹I activity detection as measured by a gamma counter. FA-PLP-¹³¹I without PTX (FA-PL-¹³¹I) shows minor cytotoxicity, good biocompatibility, while FA-PLP-¹³¹I was demonstrated to have efficient cell viability suppression compared to free PTX and PLP-¹³¹I. Following intravenous injection, the blood circulation half-life of free PTX (t _1/2 = 5.4 ± 0.23 h) was prolonged to 18.5 ± 0.5 h by FA-PLP-¹³¹I. Through FA targeting, the tumor uptake of FA-PLP-¹³¹I was approximately 4.41- and 12.8-fold higher compared to that of PLP-¹³¹I and free PTX-¹³¹I, respectively. Moreover, following 40 days of treatment, FA-PLP-¹³¹I showed an improved tumor inhibition effect compared to free PTX and PLP-¹³¹I, with no relapse and no remarkable systemic in vivo toxicity. The results demonstrate that the ¹³¹I-labeled PLGA-lipid nanoparticle can be simultaneously applied for targeted drug delivery and reliable tracking of drugs in vivo.