Investigation of apoptotic events at molecular level induced by SERS guided targeted theranostic nanoprobe

Herein, we have examined distinctive structural and functional variations of cellular components during apoptotic cell death induced by a targeted theranostic nanoprobe, MMP-SQ@GNR@LAH-DOX, which acted as a SERS on/off probe in the presence of a MMP protease and executed synergistic photothermal chemotherapy, as reflected by the SERS fingerprinting, corresponding to the phosphodiester backbone of DNA.