Novel target NIR-fluorescent polymer for living tumor cell imaging

As is well known, amphipathic polymers play a great role in drug delivery and bioimaging fields. However, the hydrophilic part always results in the poor internalization ability to tumor cells for drug delivery and bioimaging. Here, we designed and synthesized a new type of NIR-fluorescence polymer, PMMA-b-P(GATH-co-BOD), glucose-based hydrophilic segment conjugated with an NIR-fluorescence agent. Due to its amphiphilicity, the copolymer could self-assemble into micelles, with polyhydroxy glucose as the shell and a PMMA chain as the core. Such strategy provided high glucose density on the surface of the micelles. During cell internalization, the cluster glycoside effect will provide stronger recognition towards GLUT1 and act as an internal driving force. The copolymer PMMA-b-P(GATH-co-BOD) exhibited excellent advantages including low cytotoxicity and high targeting specificity for tumor cells. This near-infrared copolymer fluorescent probe system initiated a broad platform for drug delivery and bioimaging detection systems.