NQO-1 Enzyme-Activated NIR Theranostic Agent for Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most lethal cancers worldwide, which is usually diagnosed in the advanced stage and is highly resistant to traditional chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy. Therefore, there is an urgent need for developing new PC-specific imaging and treatment. In this study, an quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO-1)-activated near-infrared (NIR) agent, ICy-Q, was synthesized. ICy-Q is almost nonemissive, while its NIR emission at 705 nm is triggered by NQO-1-induced reduction in the PC cells. In addition, the reduction product, ICy-OH, is specifically enriched in mitochondria and lysosomes and acts as an effective chemotherapeutic agent to selectively induce pancreatic cancer cell death via the cell pyroptosis pathway. Further studies have shown that ICy-Q is suitable for ex vivo imaging of clinical PC sections and solid tumors from patients. We expect this study will be helpful in the future for the design of targeted theranostic agents for PC.