Virus-Based Cancer Therapeutics for Targeted Photodynamic Therapy

Cancer photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves the absorption of light by photosensitizers (PSs) to generate cytotoxic singlet oxygen for killing cancer cells. The success of this method is usually limited by the lack of selective accumulation of the PS at cancer cells. Bioengineered viruses with cancer cell-targeting peptides fused on their surfaces are great drug carriers that can guide the PS to cancer cells for targeted cancer treatment. Here, we use cell-targeting fd bacteriophages (phages) as an example to describe how to chemically conjugate PSs (e.g., pyropheophorbide-a (PPa)) onto a phage particle to achieve targeted PDT.