Hypoxia-Responsive Fluorescent Nanoprobe for Imaging and Cancer Therapy

Abstract With the exaggerated growth of solid tumor, the depletion of O2 in interior cells far exceeds their blood supply, leading to low levels of O2 in tumor microenvironment (Hypoxia). Low concentration of O2 often cause many problems in tumor cells, including poor prognosis, increased metastasis and pro-survival changes in gene expression. Thus, developing new imaging strategy for living cells under hypoxic conditions is strongly desirable. In this review, we discuss recent progress in hypoxia-responsive fluorescent nanoprobes for imaging and cancer therapy. First, we describe two basic elements of fluorescent nanoprobes, including recognition moiety and nanomaterial-based carrier. Then, recent progress in fluorescent nanoprobes for imaging under hypoxic conditions is summarized. Finally, we outline development of hypoxia-responsive fluorescent nanoprobes for simultaneous imaging and cancer treatment. We aim to provide a comprehensive summary of application for distinguishing tumor hypoxic status, diagnosing disease and developing hypoxia-responsive anticancer nanodrugs.