Application of long-circulating liposomes to cancer photodynamic therapy

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) as a cancer treatment is notable for its quite low side effects in comparison with those of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. However, the accumulation of porphyrin derivatives used in PDT into tumor tissues is rather low. Since long-circulating liposomes are known to accumulate passively into tumor tissues, we liposomalized a porphyrin derivative, benzoporphyrin derivative monoacid ring A (BPD-MA), and used these liposomes to investigate the usefulness of PDT for tumor-bearing mice. BPD-MA was liposomalized into glucuronate-modified liposomes, which are known to be long-circulating. These liposomes were injected i.v. into Balb/c mice bearing Meth A sarcoma, and tumor regression and survival time were monitored after irradiation with laser light. Tumor regression and complete curing of tumor (80% cure rate by the treatment with 6 mg/kg BPD-MA) were observed when long circulating liposomalized BPD-MA was injected and laser-irradiated. In contrast, only a 20% cure rate was obtained when the animals were treated with BPD-MA solution or BPD-MA entrapped in conventional liposomes. These results suggest that a long-circulating liposomal formulation of photo-sensitive agents is useful for PDT.