Pharmaceutics (Apr 2023)

Synthesis and Biological Properties of EGFR-Targeted Photosensitizer Based on Cationic Porphyrin

  • Yulia S. Bortnevskaya,
  • Nikita A. Shiryaev,
  • Nikita S. Zakharov,
  • Oleg O. Kitoroage,
  • Margarita A. Gradova,
  • Natalia Yu. Karpechenko,
  • Alexander S. Novikov,
  • Elena D. Nikolskaya,
  • Mariia R. Mollaeva,
  • Nikita G. Yabbarov,
  • Natal’ya A. Bragina,
  • Kseniya A. Zhdanova

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics15041284
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 4
p. 1284

Abstract

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Photodynamic therapy (PDT) in oncology is characterized by low invasiveness, minimal side effects, and little tissue scarring. Increasing the selectivity of PDT agents toward a cellular target is a new approach intended to improve this method. This study is devoted to the design and synthesis of a new conjugate based on meso-arylporphyrin with a low-molecular-weight tyrosine kinase inhibitor, Erlotinib. A nano-formulation based on Pluronic F127 micelles was obtained and characterized. The photophysical and photochemical properties and biological activity of the studied compounds and their nano-formulation were studied. A significant, 20–40-fold difference between the dark and photoinduced activity was achieved for the conjugate nanomicelles. After irradiation, the studied conjugate nanomicelles were 1.8 times more toxic toward the EGFR-overexpressing cell line MDA-MB-231 compared to the conditionally normal NKE cells. The IC50 was 0.073 ± 0.014 μM for the MDA-MB-231 cell line and 0.13 ± 0.018 μM for NKE cells after irradiation for the target conjugate nanomicelles.

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