Cancer is a major disease that threatens human health. At present, clinical cancer treatment programs still focus on surgical treatment, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. These treatment methods are characterized by large trauma, large dosage and poor targeting, thus innovative methods for tumor treatment are urgent. As a novel tumor treatment method, the photothermal imaging diagnosis and treatment platform has been widely concerned by the scientific community. The photothermal imaging diagnosis and treatment integrated technology kills cancer cells by high temperature, with the detector to receive sound wave signals to reconstruct physiological images of tissue and realize imaging-guided photothermal cancer treatment. With the advantages of simplicity, high efficiency, small trauma and quick recovery, this method is expected to be applied to tumor diagnosis and treatment in the future. However, the photo-thermal conversion agent widely used in clinical practice has poor light stability, which seriously blocks the development of photothermal imaging diagnosis and treatment integrated technology. Therefore, the development of a novel near-infrared photothermal conversion agent with high stability and high photothermal conversion efficiency will effectively improve the therapeutic efficiency of tumors and promote the rapid development of photothermal imaging diagnosis and treatment integrated technology.

Recently, the Nanomedical Photonics Laboratory of Basic Medical College reported a new type of near-infrared photothermal conversion agent, which has excellent photothermal stability, high photothermal conversion efficiency and outstanding selectivity to promote the development of theory for preparation of photothermal diagnosis and treatment reagents. Researchers from this laboratory used bis-diketopyrrolopyrrole as a structural unit to construct pyrrolopyrroledione polymer nanoparticles with remarkable near-infrared absorption. Photothermal experiments show that the polymer nanoparticles have strong photothermal stability and high photothermal conversion efficiency up to 60%. The in vitro experiments revealed that the polymer nanoparticles can specifically inhibit the growth of glioblastoma cells and have excellent selectivity. Animal experiments have shown that low concentration of nanoparticles under the light can completely achieve tumor ablation, leading to specific, low-dose, high-efficiency, and rapid treatment of glioblastoma. In addition, the researchers also used the photoacoustic imaging technology to track the distribution of nanoparticles in mice, and improved the diagnosis and treatment of glioblastoma. This study not only enriched the theory for preparation of new organic photothermal conversion agents but also broadened the therapeutic mechanism of photothermal conversion agents, providing a theoretical basis for scientific research and clinical application of new photothermal conversion agents. The relevant results entitled "Bis-Diketopyrrolopyrrole Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles as Photothermic Nanoagonist for Specific and Synergistic Glioblastoma Therapy" were published in an authoritative journal in Biomaterials, Biomaterials, 2019, 119252 (SCI Region 1, 2019 Impact Factor: 10.3). 2017 Master student Qingyuan Deng and Dr. Shengliang Li from the Basic Medical College of Henan University are co-first authors. Dr. Yongwei Huang, Dr. Zhonghua Liu and Prof. Chun-Sing Lee of the City University of Hong Kong are co-corresponding authors.