Engineering a monitoring-therapeutic in situ hydrogel via a cellulose-integrated nanointerface

Monitoring-guided therapy is currently the most ideal strategy for closed-loop therapy for skin tumors. Here, a bionic cellulosic in situ hydrogel was engineered by integrating the near-infrared-Ⅱ(NIR-Ⅱ) responsive upconversion nanoprobe into the near-infrared-Ⅰ(NIR-Ⅰ) responsive cellulose nanocrystal (CNC)-based in situ hydrogel for tumor imaging and ablation, dynamic detection and healing of infection wounds. Interestingly, the CNC-integrated nanointerface is noteworthy as it reduces the mutual interference of organic functional components and inorganic nanoparticles in the hydrogel. Moreover, the biocompatible hydrogel can be injected into the body to determine tumor size and location with the assistance of photoacoustic and magnetic resonance imaging, which facilitates precise photothermal ablation of tumors triggered by NIR-Ⅰ laser. The hydrogel with shape adaptability can enable it to cover irregular infection wounds, visualize its bacterial infection status by NIR-Ⅱ irradiation, eliminate drug-resistant bacteria and biofilms, and promote rapid healing of infection wounds through photothermal therapy. Such a cellulose-integrated nanointerface inspires the assembly of nanocomposites materials in hydrogels for closed-loop monitoring-therapy of skin tumors.