The capacity to diagnose cancer with the existing endogenous biomarkers remains limited because biomarkers usually act at the tumor site and are thus challenging to be detected directly from body fluids with high sensitivity and specificity, especially in the early stage of tumorigenesis. Here, we demonstrate an exogenous tumor-penetrating nanomarker composed of fluorescent nanoparticles conjugated with specific fluorescein-labeled peptides. The injectable nanomarkers perform four functions: they penetrate the tumor, target sites of cancer, cleave specific peptides by on-target protease, and drop off the labeled peptide into host urine for fluorescent detection. Sensitive in vivo tracking and monitoring of the cyclic process of the nanomarker was also accomplished. The nanomarker can noninvasively diagnose and monitor tumors with a volume of about 17 mm³ without invasive core biopsies. Enhanced capacity of early point-of-care detection for cancer is accomplished by receptor-dependent specificity of the signal generation in the urine compared with clinically used blood biomarkers.

中文翻译：

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肿瘤穿透分层结构的纳米标记物，用于癌症的影像引导性尿液监测。

用现有的内源性生物标志物诊断癌症的能力仍然有限，因为生物标志物通常作用于肿瘤部位，因此很难以高灵敏度和特异性直接从体液中检测出来，特别是在肿瘤发生的早期阶段。在这里，我们展示了一种外源性穿透肿瘤的纳米标记，该标记由与特定荧光素标记的肽缀合的荧光纳米颗粒组成。可注射的纳米标记物执行四个功能：它们穿透肿瘤，癌症的靶位，通过靶标蛋白酶裂解特定的肽，以及将标记的肽落入宿主尿液进行荧光检测。体内敏感还完成了对纳米标记物循环过程的跟踪和监测。纳米标记可以无创地诊断和监测体积约为17 mm ^3的肿瘤，而无需进行侵入性的核心活检。与临床使用的血液生物标志物相比，通过尿液中信号产生的受体依赖性特异性可以提高癌症早期检测点的能力。