Phospholipase A2-Responsive Phosphate Micelle-Loaded UCNPs for Bioimaging of Prostate Cancer Cells

We report the effective synthesis of biocompatible upconversion nanoparticles (UCNP)-loaded phosphate micelles and successful delivery of UCNPs to prostate cancer cells via secreted phospholipase A2 (sPLA-2) enzyme cleavage of the loaded micelles for the first time. The activity of the (sPLA-2) enzyme toward the synthesized micelles was investigated and confirmed by LC-MS. TEM results showed that the micelles have a size distribution of 80 to 150 nm, whereas UCNP-loaded micelles range from 200 to 350 nm, indicating the successful loading of UCNPs. The selective release of UCNPs to prostate cancer cells rather than other cells, specifically cervical cancer cells, was observed and confirmed by a range of bioimaging studies. Moreover, cytotoxicity assays confirmed the biocompatibility of the UCNP-loaded micelles.