Theranostics 2017; 7(4):846-854. doi:10.7150/thno.17251 This issue Cite
Research Paper
1. Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, 76 Linjiang Road, Chongqing, 400016, P. R. China
2. Shanghai Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University affiliated Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai, 200233, P. R. China.
3. State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1295 Dingxi Road, Shanghai, 200050, P. R. China
Activating droplets vaporization has become an attractive strategy for ultrasound imaging and physical therapy due to the significant increase in ultrasound backscatter signals and its ability to physically damage the tumor cells. However, the current two types of transitional droplets named after their activation methods have their respective limitations. To circumvent the limitations of these activation methods, here we report the concept of magnetic droplet vaporization (MDV) for stimuli-responsive cancer theranostics by a magnetic-responsive phase-transitional agent. This magnetic-sensitive phase-transitional agent—perfluorohexane (PFH)-loaded porous magnetic microspheres (PFH-PMMs), with high magnetic-thermal energy-transfer capability, could quickly respond to external alternating current (AC) magnetic fields to produce thermal energy and trigger the vaporization of the liquid PFH. We systematically demonstrated MDV both in vitro and in vivo. This novel trigger method with deep penetration can penetrate the air-filled viscera and trigger the vaporization of the phase-transitional agent without the need of pre-focusing lesion. This unique MDV strategy is expected to substantially broaden the biomedical applications of nanotechnology and promote the clinical treatment of tumors that are not responsive to chemical therapies.
Keywords: Magnetic droplet vaporization, Phase transition, Ultrasound imaging.