Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is one of the most elegant cancer treatment strategies that can be controlled by a beam of light with non-invasion, precise control, and high spatiotemporal accuracy. An ideal photosensitizer (PS) is the key to ensure the efficacy of PDT. Due to their hydrophobic and rigid planar structures, most traditional PSs are prone to aggregate under physiological conditions, which causes fluorescence quenching and significantly reduces reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. Fortunately, the emergence of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) dyes offers a potential opportunity to overcome these limitations. When AIE PS molecules are in the aggregation state, the fluorescence intensity and ROS production can be increased. We herein use red AIE PS molecules to prepare stable AIE nanodots for cell imaging and PDT via a simple method with a highly negatively charged mini-ferritin protein as the scaffold. The as-prepared protein-AIE nanodots show strong fluorescence emission and efficient singlet oxygen generation, with good stability, relatively long wavelengths of absorption and emission, and negligible dark toxicity. The mini-ferritin-AIE system may be useful in developing novel functional probes for tumour nanotheranostics.

中文翻译：

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微型铁蛋白蛋白包裹的AIE纳米点用于细胞成像和光动力疗法。

光动力疗法（PDT）是最优雅的癌症治疗策略之一，可以用光束进行控制，且无侵袭，精确控制且时空精度高。理想的光敏剂（PS）是确保PDT功效的关键。由于其疏水性和刚性平面结构，大多数传统PS在生理条件下易于聚集，这会导致荧光猝灭并显着减少活性氧（ROS）的产生。幸运的是，聚集诱导发射（AIE）染料的出现为克服这些局限性提供了潜在的机会。当AIE PS分子处于聚集状态时，可以增加荧光强度和ROS产生。我们在本文中使用红色AIE PS分子，通过带有高度带负电荷的迷你铁蛋白蛋白作为支架的简单方法，为细胞成像和PDT制备稳定的AIE纳米点。所制备的蛋白质-AIE纳米点显示出强荧光发射和有效的单线态氧生成，具有良好的稳定性，相对长的吸收和发射波长以及可忽略的暗毒性。微型铁蛋白-AIE系统可用于开发用于肿瘤纳米热学的新型功能探针。