NIR Imaging of the Integrin-Rich Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Using Ternary Copper Indium Selenide/Zinc Sulfide-Based Quantum Dots

摘要

Despite improved patient outcomes in a range of cancers, the prognostic of head and neck cancers remain poor, with more than 507,000 deaths annually. The management of these cancers requires multidisciplinary treatments, including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or targeted molecular therapy; however, surgical resection is one of the first-line treatments for patients with head and neck cancers. In order to increase the positive surgical margin rate, we proposed a tumor-specific near-infrared nanoprobe for fluorescence-guided surgery. We confirmed the high specificity of the proposed nanoprobe towards head and neck cancer cells using advanced 3D stroma-rich spheroids.