Perfluorocarbon-based O₂ nanocarrier for efficient photodynamic therapy

Tumor hypoxia is considered as one of the major factors that limit the efficiency of photodynamic therapy (PDT), in which oxygen (O₂) is needed to generate singlet oxygen (¹O₂) for cell destruction. Inspired by the excellent O₂ carrying ability of perfluorocarbon molecules in artificial blood, we prepared a series of polymer micelles with a perfluorocarbon core to carry both photo-sensitizer and O₂ to the tumor site, aiming to improve PDT efficiency. We found that the accelerated generation of ¹O₂ correlated with the increased perfluorocarbon amount in solution. In vitro cell study further showed that the new perfluorocarbon formulation not only improved the production of ¹O₂, leading to enhanced photodynamic therapy efficiency, but also significantly reduced cell toxicity when compared with the one without these perfluoro units. This work provides a new option for improving PDT efficiency with the new perfluorocarbon-incorporated nanoplatform.