Ailin Duan

Area of research

Biomedical Engineering · Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine

Research interest

Research topics from publications: Graphene oxide loaded with tumor-targeted peptide and anti-cancer drugs for cancer target therapy; Gastrin releasing peptide receptor targeted nano-graphene oxide for near-infrared fluorescence imaging of oral squamous cell carcinoma; A “Dual‐Source, Dual‐Activation” Strategy for an NIR‐II Window Theranostic Nanosystem Enabling Optimal Photothermal‐Ion Combination Therapy; Hollow carbon-based nanosystem for photoacoustic imaging-guided hydrogenothermal therapy in the second near-infrared window; Tumor Microenvironment‐Activated Nanosystem With High Aggregation and On‐Demand Degradation for Imaging‐Guided Synergistic Hydrogenothermal Therapy. Representative work: In the present work, we constructed nanoscale graphene oxide (NGO) as a drug nanocarrier to improve the process of tumor-targeted drug releases, promote cellular uptake and accumulation of chemotherapy drugs in tumor tissues, and reduce the toxic effects of chemotherapy drugs on normal cells. Hence, great stability was obtained in the biological solution. Moreover, we designed an effective nanoparticle system for the doxorubicin (DOX) delivery targeting the oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) by mediating the HN-1 (TSPLNIHNGQKL) through hydrogen and π-π bonds. DOX@NGO-PEG-HN-1 showed significantly higher cellular uptakes and cytotoxicity in OSCC cells (CAL-27 and SCC-25), compared to free DO Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common malignant tumor that occurs in the oral mucosa. Pathological biopsy is still the current gold standard for OSCC diagnosis; however, some drawbacks need to be overcome. Therefore, it is urgently needed to find a non-invasive targeted technology for OSCC early diagnosis. Fluorescent optical imaging using near infrared (NIR) dyes tagged to tumor specific target will benefit such developments. Gastrin releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) is an attractive target for OSCC imaging and therapy. In this study, we synthesized nano-graphene oxide (NGO) nanoparticles with GRPR-specific peptides AF750-6Ahx-Sta-BBN via hydrogen bond and π-π bonds (NGO-BB