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Photodynamic Therapy with Blended Conducting Polymer/Fullerene Nanoparticle Photosensitizers
Published on: October 28, 2015
A glutathione responsive photosensitizer based on hypocrellin B for photodynamic therapy
Zhe Yu1, Tian Liu1, Xiuli Zheng1
1Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials and City U-CAS Joint Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China; School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
As a typical natural photosensitizer, hypocrellin B (HB) offers the advantages of high molar extinction coefficient, high phototoxicity, low dark toxicity, and fast metabolism in vivo. However, the lack of tumor specificity hinders its clinical applications. Herein, we designed and synthesized a glutathione (GSH) responsive photosensitizer based on HB. The 7 - nitro - 2,1,3 - benzoxadiazole (NBD) covalently connected to HB not only served as a fluorescence quenching group but also as a GSH activating group. The photosensitizer HB-NBD showed almost no fluorescence and singlet oxygen generation as a result of the photoinduced electron transfer between HB and NBD. The designed photosensitizer HB-NBD can be activated by GSH in solutions and cancer cells, and then obtain recuperative fluorescence and photosensitive activity.

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