Quantum dots mediated imaging and phototherapy in cancer spheroid models : state of the art and perspectives

Luca Dirheimer (1, 2) , Thomas Pons (3) , Frédéric Marchal (1, 2) , Lina Bezdetnaya (1, 2)

1 UNICANCER/ICL - Institut de Cancérologie de Lorraine - Alexis Vautrin [Nancy]
2 CRAN - Centre de Recherche en Automatique de Nancy
3 LPEM - Laboratoire de Physique et d'Etude des Matériaux (UMR 8213)

Quantum Dots (QDs) are fluorescent nanoparticles known for their exceptional optical properties, i.e., high fluorescence emission, photostability, narrow emission spectrum, and broad excitation wavelength. These properties make QDs an exciting choice for bioimaging applications, notably in cancer imaging. Challenges lie in their ability to specifically label targeted cells. Numerous studies have been carried out with QDs coupled to various ligands like peptides, antibodies, aptamers, etc., to achieve efficient targeting. Most studies were conducted in vitro with two-dimensional cell monolayers (n = 8902) before evolving towards more sophisticated models. Three-dimensional multicellular tumor models better recapitulate in vivo conditions by mimicking cell-to-cell and cell-matrix interactions. To date, only few studies (n = 34) were conducted in 3D in vitro models such as spheroids, whereas these models could better represent QDs behavior in tumors compared to monolayers. Thus, the purpose of this review is to present a state of the art on the studies conducted with Quantum Dots on spheroid models for imaging and phototherapy purposes.

Mots clés: quantum dots; spheroids; imaging; photodynamic therapy; photothermal therapy; tumor targeting; nanoparticles

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Luca Dirheimer, Thomas Pons, Frédéric Marchal, Lina Bezdetnaya. Quantum dots mediated imaging and phototherapy in cancer spheroid models : state of the art and perspectives. Pharmaceutics, 2022, 14 (10), pp.2136. ⟨10.3390/pharmaceutics14102136⟩. ⟨hal-03833131⟩