CC BY
4LM-I-11
LASER-MATTER INTERACTION
Laser-ablative synthesis of multimodal nanoparticles for nuclear
nanoteranostics
Irina N. Zavestovskaya1,2
'P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute, Moscow, Russia;
2MEPHI, Moscow, Russia E-mail address: Zavestovskayain@lebedev.ru
Recent data which we have in realization of the joint project with LPI, MEPHI and Tsyb Radiological Center show that the field of nuclear medicine can be significantly expanded by integrating with nanomedicine, which utilizes nanoparticles (NPs) as carriers of radionuclides or as radiosensitizers for radiation therapy and/or active agents for imaging (radiopharmaceutical medicines in situ). The synergy of laser nanotechnology with nuclear medicine opens up a new direction of cancer imaging and therapy - nuclear nanotheranostics.
Laser ablation has appeared as a new non-chemical pathway for the synthesis of nanomaterials, which is free of limitations of conventional chemical approaches and makes possible the synthesis of ultrapure nanostructures. In this approach, small nanoscale clusters are naturally formed during laser ablation from a solid target, and then released into a liquid ambient to form a colloidal nanoparticle solution. Laser ablation can provide nanomaterials exhibiting unique properties and functionalities.
The properties of NPs as an increased ratio of surface area to volume, the ability of passive/active guidance and high load capacity, a large cross-section of interaction with biological tissues, unique properties of the surface of nanomaterials, easy giving of many functions to nanomaterials, etc. are used. All these properties of laser-synthesized nanomate-rials promise their successful employment in theranostics.
We propose different types of NPs synthesized by promising laser-based approaches as a NPs for nanotheranostics. One can use these methods to make stable colloidal dispersions of nanoparticles in both organic and aqueous media, which are suitable for a multitude of applications across the important fields of health care. For example, size tailoring allows production of Si*NPs with efficient photoluminescence that can be tuned across a broad spectral range from the visible to near-IR by varying particle size and surface functionalization. These applications encompass several types of bioimaging and various therapies, including phototherapy, RF thermal therapy, and radiotherapy. In addition, in contrast to nanostructures prepared by conventional chemical or electrochemical routes, laser-synthesized NPs have ideal round shape, controllable size with low size dispersion, and are free of any toxic impurities, which promises a better transport in vivo and the absence of side effects.
We demonstrate the possibility for fast PEGylization and conjugation of laser-synthesized Si*NPs with Rhenium-188 (188Re) radionuclide, which is one of most promising generator-type therapeutic beta-emitters with the energy of positron emission of 1.96 MeV (16.7%) and 2.18 MeV (80%) and half-decay time of 17 hours. Our tests on rat survival demonstrate excellent therapeutic effect (72% survival compared to 0% of the control group). Combined with a series of imaging and therapeutic functionalities based on unique intrinsic properties of Si*NPs, the proposed biodegradable complex promises a major advancement of nuclear nanomedicine.
Technologies of targeted proton therapy technologies using promising nanoparticles and systems based on them as therapy sensitizers and active agents for diagnostics are considered. The latter direction involves a significant expansion of the field of modern nuclear medicine through integration with nanotheranostics, which uses nanoparticles for the diagnosis and therapy of cancer, using their unique properties. The introduction of non-radioactive materials that can be activated from the outside using various external sources of nuclear particles to produce radioactivity in situ is one of the new directions of activation of nano-drugs at the site of a cancerous tumor, which can be considered as in situ production of radiopharmaceuticals. Such binary radiotherapy technologies become especially efficient when one can achieve a high tumor/non-tumor action contrast, which enables to minimize side effects related to the irradiation of healthy issues.
The study is supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of RF (project No 075-'5-202'-'347), RFBR (project No 20-20-0086').
ALT'22
