Multifaceted nanoplatforms integrating fluorescence imaging and chemotherapy have garnered acknowledgment for their potential potency in cancer diagnosis and simultaneous in situ therapy. However, some drawbacks remain for traditional organic photosensitizers, such as poor photostability, short excitation wavelength, and shallow penetration depth, which will greatly lower the chemotherapy treatment efficiency. Herein, we present lipid-encapsulated two-photon active aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogen and paclitaxel (PTX) nanoparticles (AIE@PTX NPs) with bright red fluorescence emission, excellent photostability, and good biocompatibility. The AIE@PTX NPs exhibit dual functionality as two-photon probes for visualizing blood vessels and tumor structures, achieving penetration depth up to 186 and 120 μm, respectively. Furthermore, the tumor growth of the HeLa-xenograft model can be effectively prohibited after the fluorescence imaging-guided and PTX-induced chemotherapy, which shows great potential in the clinical application of two-photon cell and tumor fluorescence imaging and cancer treatment.
Keywords: aggregation-induced emission; bioimaging; chemotherapy; paclitaxel; theranostics; two-photon.