DNA-Stabilized Silver Nanoclusters for Label-Free Fluorescence Imaging of Cell Surface Glycans and Fluorescence Guided Photothermal Therapy

A multifunctional nanoplatform that enables the integration of biological detection, imaging diagnosis, and synergistic therapy into a single nanostructure holds great promise for nanoscience and nanomedicine. Herein, a novel theranostic platform was presented for label-free imaging of cell surface glycans based on DNA/silver nanoclusters (AgNCs) via hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and fluorescence guided photothermal therapy (PTT). In this strategy, a dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO)-functionalized DNA and two hairpin structures of DNA/AgNCs probes were involved. Following metabolic glycan labeling, the binding of DBCO-functionalized DNA to cell surface initiated HCR, and then cell surface glycans were specifically labeled by DNA/AgNCs fluorescent probes. Furthermore, this signal amplification strategy was adopted in quantitative analysis, and the detection limit could be achieved as low as 20 cells in 200 μL of binding buffer. Moreover, the remarkable photothermal properties of DNA/AgNCs via HCR led to effi...