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Photodynamic Therapy with Blended Conducting Polymer/Fullerene Nanoparticle Photosensitizers
Published on: October 28, 2015
Photodynamic therapy of cancer with liposomal photosensitizers
Nejat Düzgüneş1, Jaroslaw Piskorz2, Paulina Skupin-Mrugalska2
1Department of Biomedical Sciences, Arthur A Dugoni School of Dentistry, University of the Pacific, 155 Fifth Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA.
Abstract:
The photodynamic reaction involves the light-induced generation of an excited state in a photosensitizer molecule (PS), which then results in the formation of reactive oxygen species in the presence of oxygen, or a direct modification of a cellular molecule. Most PSs are porphyrinoids, which are highly lipophilic, and are administered usually in liposomes to facilitate their effective delivery to target cells. The currently available liposomal formulations are Visudyne® and Fospeg®. Novel PSs were developed and tested for their photodynamic activity against cancer cells. Several compounds were highly phototoxic to oral cancer cells both in free and liposome-encapsulated form, with nanomolar IC50 values. The lowest IC50s (7-13 nM) were obtained with a PS encapsulated in cationic liposomes.
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