{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]],"date-time":"2026-05-07T17:49:01Z","timestamp":1778176141648,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,9]],"date-time":"2021-10-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1633737600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003725","name":"National Research Foundation of Korea","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NRF-2021R1A2C1013465"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NRF-2021R1A2C1013465"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003725","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pharmaceutics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>ZW800-1, a representative zwitterionic near-infrared (NIR) fluorophore, can minimize background tissue uptake owing to its balanced surface charges, and therefore, is widely used for improved NIR fluorescence imaging. As ZW800-1 has no tumor targetability, tumor imaging is highly dependent on the ability of the molecules conjugated to the ZW800-1. To enable tumor targeting using ZW800-1 without additional conjugation, we developed a tumor-targetable and renal-clearable ZW800-1 analog (ZW800-AM) based on the structural modification of ZW800-1. Specifically, an amine group on the center linker of the ZW800-1 indocyanine backbone was modified by replacing phenoxypropionic acid with tyramine linkage on the meso-chlorine atom. This modification improved the tumor targeting ability, which is known as the structure-inherent targeting strategy. More importantly, ZW800-AM not only showed sufficient tumor accumulation without nonspecific uptake but also produced a photothermal effect, killing tumor cells under 808 nm NIR laser irradiation. In addition, ZW800-AM exhibited rapid renal elimination from the body within 4 h of injection, similar to ZW800-1. Overall, the discovery of ZW800-AM as a bifunctional phototherapeutic agent may provide an ideal alternative for tumor-targeted imaging and phototherapy.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pharmaceutics13101648","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,10]],"date-time":"2021-10-10T21:37:29Z","timestamp":1633901849000},"page":"1648","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Tumor-Targeted ZW800-1 Analog for Enhanced Tumor Imaging and Photothermal Therapy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1504-3815","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Min-Ho","family":"Park","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Chonnam National University Medical School and Hwasun Hospital, Hwasun 58128, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gayoung","family":"Jo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chonnam National University Medical School, Hwasun 58128, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Eun-Jeong","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Chonnam National University Medical School and Hwasun Hospital, Hwasun 58128, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9106-6755","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hoon","family":"Hyun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chonnam National University Medical School, Hwasun 58128, Korea"},{"name":"BioMedical Sciences Graduate Program (BMSGP), Chonnam National University, Hwasun 58128, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"794","article-title":"Cyanine conjugates in cancer theranostics","volume":"6","author":"Li","year":"2021","journal-title":"Bioact. 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