Enhanced photodynamic therapy by encapsulation of perfluorocarbon into PEGylated near-infared dyes

摘要

Near-Infrared (NIR) dyes, with improved tissue penetration, minimal invasiveness and high specificity, have gained great interests in diagnosing and treating tumors. However, the poor solubility in aqueous medium and low O-1(2) quantum yields of NIR dyes restrict their application in PDT (photodynamic therapy) research. Herein, a novel nanosystem with modifying the NIR dyes and encapsulating perfluorocarbon is reported for improving the PDT effectiveness of NIR dyes. By adding the PEG(2000)-SH and the C13 carbon chain to a NIR representative dye IR780, the new formed material PEG-IR780-C13 shows good solubility in water. Then PFTBA was encapsulated into PEG-IR780-C13 to form a nanosystem (PFTBA@PEG-IR780-C13). When exposed to laser irradiation, the nanosystem showed enhanced production of O-1(2) and significantly increased PDT both in vivo and in vitro. Therefore, this work provides an approach for design and application of NIR dyes.