Background:
Multidrug Resistance (MDR) is defined as a cross-resistance of cancer cells
to various chemotherapeutics and has been demonstrated to correlate with drug efflux pumps. Visualization
of drug efflux pumps is useful to pre-select patients who may be insensitive to chemotherapy,
thus preventing patients from unnecessary treatment. Near-Infrared (NIR) imaging is an attractive
approach to monitoring MDR due to its low tissue autofluorescence and deep tissue penetration.
Molecular NIR imaging of MDR cancers requires stable probes targeting biomarkers with high
specificity and affinity.
Objective:
This article aims to provide a concise review of novel NIR probes and their applications
in MDR cancer treatment.
Results:
Recently, extensive research has been performed to develop novel NIR probes and several
strategies display great promise. These strategies include chemical conjugation between NIR dyes
and ligands targeting MDR-associated biomarkers, native NIR dyes with inherent targeting ability,
activatable NIR probes as well as NIR dyes loaded nanoparticles. Moreover, NIR probes have been
widely employed for photothermal and photodynamic therapy in cancer treatment, which combine
with other modalities to overcome MDR. With the rapid advancing of nanotechnology, various
nanoparticles are incorporated with NIR dyes to provide multifunctional platforms for controlled
drug delivery and combined therapy to combat MDR. The construction of these probes for MDR
cancers targeted NIR imaging and phototherapy will be discussed. Multimodal nanoscale platform
which integrates MDR monitoring and combined therapy will also be encompassed.
Conclusion:
We believe these NIR probes project a promising approach for diagnosis and therapy
of MDR cancers, thus holding great potential to reach clinical settings in cancer treatment.