Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is frequently metastatic once diagnosed and less likely to respond to curative surgery, emphasizing the need for the development of more sensitive and effective diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.
Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (
EpCAM) is deemed as the
biomarker of cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are mainly responsible for the recurrence,
metastasis and prognosis of HCC. In this study, we discuss the use of
mitoxantrone (MX), an
antitumor drug and a
photosensitizer, for designing upconversion nanoparticle-based
micelles grafted with the anti-
EpCAM antibody, for dual-modality magnetic resonance/upconversion luminescence (MR/UCL)-guided synergetic
chemotherapy and
photodynamic therapy (
PDT). The obtained
micelles exhibit good biocompatibility, high specificity to HCC cells and superior fluorescent/magnetic properties in vitro. In vivo results demonstrate that the targeted
micelles exhibited much better MR/UCL imaging qualities compared to the nontargeted
micelles after the
intravenous injection. More importantly, PEGylated UCNP
micelles loaded with MX and grafted with anti-
EpCAM antibody, denoted as anti-
EpCAM-UPGs-MX, showcased the most effective synergetic antitumor efficacy compared with other treatment groups both in vitro and vivo. The remarkable antitumor effect, coupled with superior simultaneous dual-modality MR/UCL imaging as well as good biocompatibility and negligible toxicity, makes the
UPG micelles promising for future translational research in HCC diagnosis and
therapy.