Targeted Luminescent Probes for Precise Upconversion/NIR II Luminescence Diagnosis of Lung Adenocarcinoma

In this research, the antibody of the searched hub genes has been proposed to combine with a rare-earth composite for an upconversion luminescence (UCL) and downconversion (DCL) NIR-II imaging strategy for the diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Weighted gene co-expression network analysis is used to search the most relevant hub genes, and the required top genes that contribute to tumorigenesis (negative: CLEC3B, MFAP4, PECAM1, and FHL1; positive: CCNB2, CDCA5, HMMR, and TOP2A) are identified and validated by survival analysis and transcriptional and translational results. Meanwhile, fluorescence imaging probes (NaYF₄:Yb,Er,Eu@NaYF₄:Nd, denoted as NYF:Eu NPs) with multimodal optical imaging properties of downconversion and upconversion luminescence in the visible region and luminescence in the near infrared II region are designed with various uniform sizes and enhanced penetration and sensitivity. Finally, when the NYF:Eu NP probe is combined with antibodies of these chosen positive hub genes (such as, TOP2A and CCNB2), the in vitro and in vivo animal experiments (flow cytometry, cell counting kit-8 assay using A549 cells, and in vivo immunohistochemistry IHC microscopy images of LUAD from patient cases) indicate that the designed nanoprobes can be excellently used as a targeted optical probe for future accurate diagnosis and surgery navigation of LUAD in contrast with other cancer cells and normal cells. This strategy of antibodies combined with optical probes provides a dual-modal luminescence imaging method for precise medicine.