Lactose substituted zinc phthalocyanine: A near infrared fluorescence imaging probe for liver cancer targeting

A near infrared fluorescence probe, lactose substituted zinc phthalocyanine, [2,9(10),16(17),23(24)-tetrakis((1-(beta-D-lactose-2-yl)-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)methoxyl)phthalocyaninato] zinc(II), was synthesized via click reaction. Structural characterization and optical experiment demonstrated its excellent biocompatibility and fluorescence imaging ability. Near infrared fluorescence imaging in vivo for liver cancer, lung cancer and melanoma cancer with tumor bearing nude mice as models demonstrated that lactose substituted zinc phthalocyanine has specifically targeting ability to liver cancer while no targeting to lung cancer or melanoma, which implied its potential in liver cancer diagnosis as a near infrared optical probe. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.