AIE nanoparticles camouflaged with tumor cell-derived exosomes for NIR-II imaging-guided photothermal therapy

Abstract Nanoparticles (NPs) assisted photothermal therapy (PTT) is a promising cancer treatment modality and has attracted the attention of the scientific mainstream. However, developing NPs that exhibit efficient optical properties and specific tumor targeting capability simultaneously is difficult. Herein, we develop hybrid nanovesicles consisting of tumor cell-derived exosomes (EXO) and organic aggregation-induced emission (AIE) nanoparticles (TT3- o CB NP@EXOs) with enhanced second near-infrared (NIR-II, 900-1700 nm) fluorescence property and PTT functionality. Compared with TT3- o CB NPs, TT3- o CB NP@EXOs exhibit excellent biocompatibility, specific targeting ability in vitro , homing to homologous tumors in vivo , and prolonged circulation time. Furthermore, TT3- o CB NP@EXOs were utilized as biomimetic NPs for NIR-II fluorescence imaging-guided PTT of tumors, due to their high and stable photothermal conversion capacity under 808 nm irradiation. Therefore, the tumor cell-derived EXO/AIE NP hybrid nanovesicles may provide an alternative artificial targeting strategy for improving tumor diagnosis and PTT.