Manganese Oxide-Coated Carbon Nanotubes As Dual-Modality Lymph Mapping Agents for Photothermal Therapy of Tumor Metastasis

Lymph node (LN) status is a major indicator of stage and survival of lung cancer patients. LN dissection is a primary option for lung cancer LN metastasis; however, this strategy elicits adverse effects and great trauma. Therefore, developing a minimally invasive technique to cure LN metastasis of lung cancer is desired. In this study, multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) coated with manganese oxide (MnO) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) (namely MWNTs-MnO-PEG) was employed as a lymphatic theranostic agent to diagnose and treat metastatic LNs. After single local injection and lymph drainage were performed, regional LNs were clearly mapped by T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) of MnO and dark dye imaging of MWNTs. Meanwhile, metastatic LNs could be simultaneously ablated by near-infrared (NIR) irradiation under the guidance of dual-modality mapping. The excellent result was obtained in mice bearing LNs metastasis models, showing that MWNTs-MnO-PEG as a multifunctional theranostic agent was competent for dual-modality mapping guided photothermal therapy of metastatic LNs.