Conjugation of Porphyrin to Nanohybrid Cerasomes for Photodynamic Diagnosis and Therapy of Cancer

摘要

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an emerging treatment for eradicating premalignant and early-stage cancer and reducing the tumor size in end-stage cancers by photosensitizers (PSs). When PSs are exposed to light of appropriate wavelength, they produce highly reactive oxygen species (ROS) that cause an effective and selective destruction of diseased tissues without damage to the surrounding healthy tissues. However, most photosensitizers that are used clinically or in preclinical development are hydrophobic and strongly aggregate in aqueous media. This aggregation significantly reduces their photosensitizing efficacy because only monomeric species are appreciably photoactive. Many types of nanocarries, such as polymeric micelles, conjugated polymer nanoparticles, and silica nanoparticles have been extensively used to fabricate a stable dispersion of PDT drugs in aqueous systems. However, most of them suffer from poor drug loading or increased self-aggregation of the drug in the entrapped state.