Activable Nanoparticle for Tumor Aggressiveness and Drug Resistance Prediction by Glutathione Heterogeneous Imaging

Studies have shown that a higher GSH level is related to more drug-resistant and invasiveness of a tumor. However, it is a great challenge to accurately imaging the GSH level in vivo, for its imaging intensity will interfered by different accumulation of probes in the tumor. Thus, we hypothesized ratiometric photoacoustic imaging that can be used to predict the drug-resistant and invasiveness of tumors by accurate GSH level imaging. In this study, we synthesized MnO₂/Indocyanine Green (MnO₂/ICG). It can be used as ratiometric photoacoustic (PA) imaging probe, for its absorption at 780 nm (Ab₇₈₀) can be decreased and 680 nm (Ab₆₈₀) remain unchanged upon GSH reduction. And our results confirmed that a lower PA absorption ratio (Ab₇₈₀/Ab₆₈₀) corresponded to a higher GSH level of the tumor. Besides, the near-infrared fluorescence (FI) imaging was used as an assistant, for it can be quenched upon GSH. Therefore, MnO₂/ICG can predict the tumor invasiveness and drug resistance by imaging the GSH level. This study provides reference to predict the prognosis of tumors by imaging the metabolic biomarker of tumors.