Drug Carrier for Photodynamic Cancer Therapy

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Tilahun Ayane Debele³  Sydney Peng¹  Hsieh-Chih Tsai³  Michael R. Hamblin² 

[1] Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, 300 Hsinchu, Taiwan; E-Mail:;Graduate Institute of Applied Science and Technology, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, 106 Taipei, Taiwan; E-Mail;Graduate Institute of Applied Science and Technology, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, 106 Taipei, Taiwan; E-Mail:

关键词: photodynamic therapy;    photosensitizers;    cancer cells;    nanoparticles;    biodegradable;    organic nanocarrier;    inorganic nanocarrier;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms160922094

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a non-invasive combinatorial therapeutic modality using light, photosensitizer (PS), and oxygen used for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. When PSs in cells are exposed to specific wavelengths of light, they are transformed from the singlet ground state (S₀) to an excited singlet state (S₁–S_n), followed by intersystem crossing to an excited triplet state (T₁). The energy transferred from T₁ to biological substrates and molecular oxygen, via type I and II reactions, generates reactive oxygen species, (¹O₂, H₂O₂, O₂*, HO*), which causes cellular damage that leads to tumor cell death through necrosis or apoptosis. The solubility, selectivity, and targeting of photosensitizers are important factors that must be considered in PDT. Nano-formulating PSs with organic and inorganic nanoparticles poses as potential strategy to satisfy the requirements of an ideal PDT system. In this review, we summarize several organic and inorganic PS carriers that have been studied to enhance the efficacy of photodynamic therapy against cancer.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.