Mild acidity matrix, rich blood vessels and special biomarkers constitute the primary tumor microenvironment. Nanoparticles could change their physicochemical characteristics by functionalizing a series of moieties which is responsive towards pH or specific markers. So precise regulation of nanocarrier-based drug delivery systems by the tumor microenvironment has showed great potential for theranostics. Herein, we developed a smart nano delivery system STD-NM, showing tumor microenvironment responsive targeting, efficient drug delivery and precise evaluation of therapeutic effect in vivo. STD-NM kept in 'stealth' state in normal environment while 'activated' in the tumor acidic environment, which could show stability in blood circulation while deeply penetrate into tumor tissues. Additionally, STD-NM was designed with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristic, of which the fluorescence 'switch on' when apoptosis taken place. Gene analysis by RNA-seq also confirmed a superior therapeutic effect of drug loaded STD-NM treatment. We envisioned the well-designed smart nano materials for drug delivery could open a new avenue in precisely tumor imaging and specific cancer therapeutics.

中文翻译：

---

具有AIE特性的肿瘤微环境控制的纳米胶束可促进癌症治疗和细胞凋亡监测。

轻度的酸度基质，丰富的血管和特殊的生物标记物构成了主要的肿瘤微环境。纳米粒子可以通过功能化一系列对pH值或特定标记有响应的部分来改变其理化特性。因此，通过肿瘤微环境对基于纳米载体的药物递送系统的精确调节已显示出治疗学上的巨大潜力。在这里，我们开发了一个智能的纳米递送系统STD-NM，显示了肿瘤微环境响应性靶向，有效的药物递送和体内治疗效果的精确评估。STD-NM在正常环境下保持“隐身”状态，而在肿瘤酸性环境下“激活”，这可能在血液循环中表现出稳定性，同时深深地渗透到肿瘤组织中。此外，STD-NM设计为具有聚集诱导发射（AIE）特性，当发生凋亡时，荧光会“打开”。通过RNA-seq进行的基因分析还证实了载药STD-NM治疗的优异治疗效果。我们预见，精心设计的用于药物输送的智能纳米材料可以为精确的肿瘤成像和特定的癌症治疗方法开辟新的途径。