The coming era of precision nanomedicine demands engineered nanoparticles that can be readily translated into the clinic, like that of molecular agents, without being hindered by intrinsic size heterogeneity and long-term body retention. Herein we report that conjugation of indocyanine green (ICG), an FDA-approved near-infrared (NIR) dye, onto an atomically precise glutathione-coated Au25 (GS-Au25) nanocluster led to a molecular-like photothermal nanoparticle (ICG4-GS-Au25) with significantly enhanced ICG photostability and tumor targeting. Under weak NIR light irradiation conditions, free ICG failed to suppress tumor growth but the original tumors were completely eradicated with ICG4-GS-Au25. In the meantime, "off-target" ICG4-GS-Au25 was effectively cleared out from the body like small-molecule drugs after glutathione-mediated biotransformation in the liver. These findings highlight the merits of molecular-like nanomedicines, offering a new pathway to meet FDA's criteria for the clinical translation of nanomedicines.

中文翻译：

---

使用 ICG 共轭金纳米团簇进行癌症光热治疗。

即将到来的精密纳米医学时代需要工程纳米粒子，这些纳米粒子可以很容易地转化为临床，就像分子药物一样，不受内在尺寸异质性和长期身体保留的阻碍。在这里，我们报告了 FDA 批准的近红外 (NIR) 染料吲哚菁绿 (ICG) 与原子级精确的谷胱甘肽涂层的 Au25 (GS-Au25) 纳米团簇的共轭导致了分子状光热纳米粒子 (ICG4-GS -Au25) 具有显着增强的 ICG 光稳定性和肿瘤靶向性。在弱近红外光照射条件下，游离 ICG 未能抑制肿瘤生长，但 ICG4-GS-Au25 将原始肿瘤完全根除。与此同时，“脱靶” 在谷胱甘肽介导的肝脏生物转化后，ICG4-GS-Au25 像小分子药物一样有效地从体内清除。这些发现突出了类分子纳米药物的优点，为满足 FDA 的纳米药物临床转化标准提供了一条新途径。