Porphyrin-based MOFs for Gene Delivery in Cancer Therapy: Recent Advances and Progress

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, which involves the uncontrolled growth of body cells. Cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs, such as tamoxifen, doxorubicin, methotrexate, and cisplatin, have shortcomings that have deprived these treatments of the desired efficiency to destroy tumor cells. Poor pharmacokinetics, severe side effects, and low targeting properties are examples of these shortcomings. Meanwhile, in the last few years, the use of nanocarriers in drug delivery systems has grown significantly. Porphyrins, also called life pigments, are classified as organic complexes. Due to their unique electrochemical and photophysical properties, they have been used in various fields, such as photodynamic therapy, fluorescence, and photoacoustic imaging. However, due to the limitations of these compounds in aqueous environments, such as aggregation by surface molecules, weak absorption in the biological spectral window, self-quenching, and poor chemical and optical stability, there are gaps in the clinical applications of porphyrins. To overcome these challenges, researchers have developed porphyrin-based MOFs. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), made of metal ions and clusters coupled with organic linkers, such as porphyrins, through self-assembly, retain the properties of porphyrins while offering additional advantages. Several synthetic approaches and significant advances have been made in the development of porphyrin-based MOFs, including combination therapies, advanced drug delivery, cancer therapy, and photodynamic therapy. Porphyrin-based metal-organic frameworks represent a transformative approach in cancer treatment by integrating multiple therapeutic functions, improving targeting mechanisms, ensuring safety, increasing drug delivery efficiency, and overcoming tumor biological barriers, such as hypoxia, and their day-to-day development promises the formation of more personalized and effective strategies.