Phase-Transition Nanodroplets for Real-Time Photoacoustic/Ultrasound Dual-Modality Imaging and Photothermal Therapy of Sentinel Lymph Node in Breast Cancer

Pathological status of lymph nodes (LNs) plays a critical role in staging and treatment for the patients with breast cancer. Sentinel lymph node biopsy has become the standard method in determining pathological status of axillary LNs. Therefore, the determination of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) and therapy of metastatic LNs are highly desirable in clinic. Herein, an unprecedented carbon nanoparticles (CNs)-incorporated liquid-gas phase-transition nanodroplets (CNPs) with strong near-infrared (NIR) absorption, good biocompatibility, excellent photoacoustic (PA) and ultrasound (US) contrast, and high photothermal-conversion efficiency are reported in this study. Upon laser irradiation, liquid-gas phase transition of the CNPs has been demonstrated to provide excellent contrasts for PA/US dual-modality imaging both in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, the CNPs are capable of staining lymph nodes, which can contribute significantly to the identification of LNs with naked eyes. With increased laser energy, the CNPs exhibit the high performance in killing the breast cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo, due to the photothermal effect induced from the CNs within CNPs. These results suggest that the developed multifunctional phase-transition nanodroplets have high potential to act as the theranostic agents in both SLNs detection and therapy of metastatic LNs.