HEAT-CAMERA · Hybrid Encapsulated Advanced Thermometers for CAncer Mapping and thERApy

Early cancer diagnosis gives best chance for successful treatment. However, the currently available imaging techniques (CT, MRI, ultrasound) are limited in detecting very small cancerous lesions. Also, the location of the tumor may play a role in how big it must grow before it is visible. This is resulting in a rising interest from the medical community in new diagnostic tools. Luminescent thermometers could be an excellent new approach for early cancer detection. However, diagnosis alone is not enough. Immediate, minimally invasive treatment is needed to attack the cancer cells. It is ideal if these two modalities (diagnosis and therapy) can be combined in one technology. The concept of theranostics concerns the combination of both diagnostics and therapeutics in one “package” and is unquestionably a great option for an early stage and minimally invasive approach to cancer. Project HEAT-CAMERA aims at the design and development of theranostic nanoplatforms combining diagnosis through temperature and an on-demand drug release. Anti-cancer drugs are highly toxic and therefore it is desired that the drug is released directly to the diseased cells to reduce the overall toxicity to the body. This technology building on the best of currently available knowledge – merging the excellent thermometric properties of well-established Ag2S thermometers, with biocompatible, highly tuneable periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO) materials. The porous PMO shell allows for incorporating photoswitching moieties. Once the nanoplatforms are loaded with an anti-cancer drug the photoswitching moieties yield controlled, on-demand drug release after near infrared (NIR) light irradiation. These Ag2S@HPMO-azo NIR light-controlled thermometry-drug delivery systems will open new avenues for clinical applications.