Fig. 4: In vivo NIR fluorescence imaging and SPNpro-mediated activatable photo-immunometabolic therapy.
From: Semiconducting polymer nano-PROTACs for activatable photo-immunometabolic cancer therapy
a Schematic illustration of the schedule for tumor model implantation and SPNpro-mediated activatable photo-immunometabolic therapy. b NIR fluorescence imaging of 4T1-tumor-bearing BALB/c mice at different timepoints after the intravenous injection of SPNpro, SPN-1, or SPN-2 (200 μL, [PCB] = 200 μg/mL). c Confocal fluorescence images of primary tumors from 4T1-tumor-bearing mice after intravenous injection of SPNpro, SPN-1, or SPN-2. Blue fluorescence showed the cell nucleus stained with DAPI, and red fluorescence showed the signals from the PCB core. d Ex vivo NIR fluorescence images of tumors and major organs in 4T1-tumor-bearing mice at 48 h after intravenous injection of SPNpro, SPN-1, or SPN-2. e Confocal fluorescence images of primary tumor tissues from SPNpro-, SPN-1-, or SPN-2-injected (200 μL, [PCB] = 200 μg/mL) 4T1-tumor-bearing mice with or without NIR photoirradiation (0.3 W/cm2 at 808 nm) for 6 min. Blue fluorescence showed the cell nucleus stained with DAPI, red fluorescence showed the signals from the PCB core, and green fluorescence showed the signals from SOSG. f Quantitative analysis of SOSG MFI in primary tumor tissues of mice after different treatments (n = 5). p < 0.0001. Growth curves of primary tumors (g) and distant tumors (h) in 4T1-tumor-bearing mice after different treatments (n = 5). Saline-treatment versus SPNpro-treatment group: p = 0.0043 for primary tumors (g); p = 0.0192 for distant tumors (h). Quantification of caspase-3 expression in primary (i) and distant (j) tumor tissues of 4T1-tumor-bearing mice (n = 7). p < 0.0001. Statistical significance in f, i, and j was calculated via one-way ANOVA with a Tukey post-hoc test. Statistical significance in g and h was calculated via two-tailed Student’s t-test. *p < 0.032, **p < 0.0021, ***p < 0.0002, and ****p < 0.0001. The mean values and SD are presented. The experiments in c and e were repeated independently three times with similar results.
