Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology (Sep 2022)

Enhancing electron transfer of a semiconducting polymer for type I photodynamic and photothermal synergistic therapy

  • Cao Cui,
  • Xuehua Su,
  • Yongchun Guo,
  • Jun Zhu,
  • Zimeng Chen,
  • Wei Qin,
  • Yihang Guo,
  • Wenming Tao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2022.1004921
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

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Tumor hypoxia is responsible for the reduced therapeutic efficacy of type II photodynamic therapy (PDT) because of the dependence of cellular oxygen during 1O2 generation. Type I PDT may be a better strategy to overcome the disadvantages of hypoxia for enhanced theranostics. Herein, a new semiconducting polymer PDPP was synthesized and encapsulated with hydrophilic PEG-PDPA to enhance the electron transfer for type I PDT. PDPP NPs show a high superoxide radical generation ability with DHR123 as a probe. In vitro MTT assay indicates PDPP NPs with considerably high phototoxicity on human cervical cancer cells (HeLa) with a low half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 6.1 μg/ml. Furthermore, an in vivo study demonstrates that PDPP NPs can lead to complete tumor suppression with the help of laser, compared with the control and dark groups. The biosafety is confirmed by the H&E analysis of the normal tissues (the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidney). The results provide a strategy to design nanosystems for type I PDT and PTT synergistic therapy.

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