Yonghui Xie

Bio: Yonghui Xie is an academic researcher from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. The author has contributed to research in topics: Autofluorescence & Fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 5 publications receiving 32 citations.

Functional titanium dioxide nanoparticle conjugated with phthalocyanine and folic acid as a promising photosensitizer for targeted photodynamic therapy in vitro and in vivo

Abstract: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising cancer treatment that can be implemented using various agents. The conventional photosensitizer Al (III) phthalocyanine chloride tetrasulfonic acid (Pc) has limitations of selectivity in tumor targeting, low affinity to cancer cells, and low two-photon absorption. This study presents a novel photosensitizer FA-TiO2-Pc, which has the TiO2 nanoparticle conjugated with a tumor targeting agent of folic acid (FA), and Pc. FA-TiO2-Pc possessed high targeted photodynamic therapeutic activity and excellent biocompatibility. This promising photosensitizer showed high therapeutic drug efficiency in vitro at a low concentration dose and short incubation time under one-photon excitation (OPE). In vivo, when treated with a low dose of FA-TiO2-Pc and low light irradiation, the tumor growth was depressed in mice bearing HeLa xenograft tumors with minimal side effects. In addition, the two-photon absorption of FA-TiO2-Pc was also enhanced compared to Pc, proving that FA-TiO2-Pc system has a great potential to be used for the therapy of the folate receptor positive cancer cells in both OPE-PDT and two-photon excitation (TPE)-PDT agents.

Rapid, Label-Free, and Highly Sensitive Detection of Cervical Cancer With Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy

Abstract: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide and early detection of cervical cancer is crucial to improve the performance of treatment. Autofluorescence arising from cells and tissues can provide information of cellular energy metabolism. Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) can be used to detect the metabolism change indicating the development of precancer. In this study, cervical unstained tissue sections obtained from patients were detected by FLIM, which exhibited the cellular morphology features as clear as the pathology images without using fluorescence probes, and the average lifetime of normal tissue samples was consistently lower than that of precancerous or cancerous samples. The results indicate that FLIM is a rapid and label-free tool with high sensitivity and specificity to detect cervical cancer and precancer.

Label-free imaging and spectroscopy for early detection of cervical cancer

Abstract: The label-free imaging and spectroscopy method was studied on cervical unstained tissue sections obtained from 36 patients. The native fluorescence spectra of tissues are analyzed by the optical redox ratio (ORR), which is defined as fluorescence intensity ratio between NADH and FAD, and indicates the metabolism change with the cancer development. The ORRs of normal tissues are consistently higher than those of precancer or cancerous tissues. A criterion line of ORR at 5.0 can be used to discriminate cervical precancer/cancer from normal tissues. The sensitivity and specificity of the native fluorescence spectroscopy method for cervical cancer diagnosis are determined as 100% and 91%. Moreover, the native fluorescence spectroscopy study is much more sensitive on the healthy region of cervical precancer/cancer patients compared with the traditional clinical staining method. The results suggest label-free imaging and spectroscopy is a fast, highly sensitive and specific method on the detection of cervical cancer.

Effect of Fixation and Mounting on Fluorescence Lifetime of Cellular Autofluorescence

Abstract: Fluorescence lifetime measurements are often performed on live as well as fixed cells and tissues. Fixation and mounting processes are routinely used in cellular research or clinical diagnosis. In this paper, the effects of fixation and mounting on the fluorescence lifetime of cellular autofluorescence were studied by fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy over time. Two endogenous fluorescent fluorophores, reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), showed different results between live cells and fixed cells. The average lifetime of NADH in live HeLa cells was about 1.02 ns, while maintained about 1.57 ns during the fixation periods of 14 days. The average lifetimes of FAD in live and fixed HeLa cells within 11 days were similar around 1.75 ns but increased to 2.10 ns after 12 days. The free and bound states of the two kinds of fluorophores were further analyzed. It was found that the bound-FAD had two different groups, which was related to the cell division cycle. The effect of mounting medium on fluorescence lifetimes was also studied, indicating glycerol has a negative impact on the fluorescence lifetime compared with neutral balsam.

Photodynamic Therapy—An Up-to-Date Review

Abstract: The healing power of light has attracted interest for thousands of years. Scientific discoveries and technological advancements in the field have eventually led to the emergence of photodynamic therapy, which soon became a promising approach in treating a broad range of diseases. Based on the interaction between light, molecular oxygen, and various photosensitizers, photodynamic therapy represents a non-invasive, non-toxic, repeatable procedure for tumor treatment, wound healing, and pathogens inactivation. However, classic photosensitizing compounds impose limitations on their clinical applications. Aiming to overcome these drawbacks, nanotechnology came as a solution for improving targeting efficiency, release control, and solubility of traditional photosensitizers. This paper proposes a comprehensive path, starting with the photodynamic therapy mechanism, evolution over the years, integration of nanotechnology, and ending with a detailed review of the most important applications of this therapeutic approach.

Novel automated non invasive detection of ocular surface squamous neoplasia using multispectral autofluorescence imaging.

Abstract: Purpose Diagnosing Ocular surface squamous neoplasia (OSSN) using newly designed multispectral imaging technique. Methods Eighteen patients with histopathological diagnosis of Ocular Surface Squamous Neoplasia (OSSN) were recruited. Their previously collected biopsy specimens of OSSN were reprocessed without staining to obtain auto fluorescence multispectral microscopy images. This technique involved a custom-built spectral imaging system with 38 spectral channels. Inter and intra-patient frameworks were deployed to automatically detect and delineate OSSN using machine learning methods. Different machine learning methods were evaluated, with K nearest neighbor and Support Vector Machine chosen as preferred classifiers for intra- and inter-patient frameworks, respectively. The performance of the technique was evaluated against a pathological assessment. Results Quantitative analysis of the spectral images provided a strong multispectral signature of a relative difference between neoplastic and normal tissue both within each patient (at p Conclusions This study shows the feasibility of using multispectral auto-fluorescence imaging to detect and find the boundary of human OSSN. Fully automated analysis of multispectral images based on machine learning methods provides a promising diagnostic tool for OSSN which can be translated to future clinical applications.

Electrochemical detection of cancer cells in human blood using folic acid and glutamic acid-functionalized graphene quantum dot-palladium@gold as redox probe with excellent electrocatalytic activity and target recognition

Abstract: Determination of circulating cancer cells in human blood is potential to be convenient diagnosis of different cancers. The study reports one strategy for synthesis of folic acid and glutamic acid-functionalized graphene quantum dot-palladium@gold (FA/Glu-GQD-Pd@Au). Firstly, FA/Glu-GQD was prepared by thermolysis of the mixture of citric acid, glutamic acid and folic acid. Then, it was used as the stabilizer and reducer for synthesis of FA/Glu-GQD-Pd@Au. The resulting hybrid was employed as one redox probe for construction of electrochemical sensing platform for cancer cells. The study reveals that the FA/Glu-GQD-Pd@Au offers one core@shell nanostructure. Pd nanocube as the core was covered by gold nanocrystal as the shell. For the detection, Pd@Au gives high electrocatalytic activity due to its unique structure as well as combination with FA/Glu-GQD. FA/Glu-GQD strongly binds with cancer cells to produce target recognition. FA/Glu-GQD occurs reversible redox reactions on the electrode surface and produces electrochemical signal for binding cancer cells. Pd@Au in situ catalyzes redox of FA/Glu-GQD and achieves to significant signal amplification. The sensor based on FA/Glu-GQD-Pd@Au exhibits ultrahigh sensitivity for detection of cancer cells. The differential pulse voltammetric peak current linearly reduces with the increase of cancer cells in the range of 3−1 × 105 HepG2 cells mL−1 with the detection limit of 2 cells mL−1 (S/N = 3). The proposed analytical method has been successfully applied in electrochemical detection of circulating cancer cells in human blood.

Volumetric analysis of breast cancer tissues using machine learning and swept-source optical coherence tomography

Abstract: In breast cancer, 20%-30% of cases require a second surgery because of incomplete excision of malignant tissues. Therefore, to avoid the risk of recurrence, accurate detection of the cancer margin by the clinician or surgeons needs some assistance. In this paper, an automated volumetric analysis of normal and breast cancer tissue is done by a machine learning algorithm to separate them into two classes. The proposed method is based on a support-vector-machine-based classifier by dissociating 10 features extracted from the A-line, texture, and phase map by the swept-source optical coherence tomographic intensity and phase images. A set of 88 freshly excised breast tissue [44 normal and 44 cancers (invasive ductal carcinoma tissues)] samples from 22 patients was used in our study. The algorithm successfully classifies the cancerous tissue with sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 91.56%, 93.86%, and 92.71% respectively. The present computational technique is fast, simple, and sensitive, and extracts features from the whole volume of the tissue, which does not require any special tissue preparation nor an expert to analyze the breast cancer as required in histopathology. Diagnosis of breast cancer by extracting quantitative features from optical coherence tomographic images could be a potentially powerful method for cancer detection and would be a valuable tool for a fine-needle-guided biopsy.

Magnetite and bismuth sulfide Janus heterostructures as radiosensitizers for in vivo enhanced radiotherapy in breast cancer.

Abstract: Janus heterostructures based on bimetallic nanoparticles have emerged as effective radiosensitizers owing to their radiosensitization capabilities in cancer cells. In this context, this study aims at developing a novel bimetallic nanoradiosensitizer, Bi2S3-Fe3O4, to enhance tumor accumulation and promote radiation-induced DNA damage while reducing adverse effects. Due to the presence of both iron oxide and bismuth sulfide metallic nanoparticles in these newly developed nanoparticle, strong radiosensitizing capacity is anticipated through the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to induce DNA damage under X-Ray irradiation. To improve blood circulation time, biocompatibility, colloidal stability, and tuning surface functionalization, the surface of Bi2S3-Fe3O4 bimetallic nanoparticles was coated with bovine serum albumin (BSA). Moreover, to achieve higher cellular uptake and efficient tumor site specificity, folic acid (FA) as a targeting moiety was conjugated onto the bimetallic nanoparticles, termed Bi2S3@BSA-Fe3O4-FA. Biocompatibility, safety, radiation-induced DNA damage by ROS activation and generation, and radiosensitizing ability were confirmed via in vitro and in vivo assays. The administration of Bi2S3@BSA-Fe3O4-FA in 4T1 breast cancer murine model upon X-ray radiation revealed highly effective tumor eradication without causing any mortality or severe toxicity in healthy tissues. These findings offer compelling evidence for the potential capability of Bi2S3@BSA-Fe3O4-FA as an ideal nanoparticle for radiation-induced cancer therapy and open interesting avenues of future research in this area.