A Novel Photopharmacological Tool: Dual-Step Luminescence for Biological Tissue Penetration of Light and the Selective Activation of Photodrugs

Abstract

Conventional pharmacology lacks spatial and temporal selectivity in terms of drug action. This leads to unwanted side effects, such as damage to healthy cells, as well as other less obvious effects, such as environmental toxicity and the acquisition of resistance to drugs, especially antibiotics, by pathogenic microorganisms. Photopharmacology, based on the selective activation of drugs by light, can contribute to alleviating this serious problem. However, many of these photodrugs are activated by light in the UV–visible spectral range, which does not propagate through biological tissues. In this article, to overcome this problem, we propose a dual-spectral conversion technique, which simultaneously makes use of up-conversion (using rare earth elements) and down-shifting (using organic materials) techniques in order to modify the spectrum of light. Near-infrared light (980 nm), which penetrates tissue fairly well, can provide a “remote control” for drug activation. Once near-IR light is inside the body, it is up-converted to the UV–visible spectral range. Subsequently, this radiation is down-shifted in order to accurately adjust to the excitation wavelengths of light which can selectively activate hypothetical and specific photodrugs. In summary, this article presents, for the first time, a “dual tunable light source” which can penetrate into the human body and deliver light of specific wavelengths; thus, it can overcome one of the main limitations of photopharmacology. It opens up promising possibilities for the moving of photodrugs from the laboratory to the clinic.

Keywords

• photopharmacology
• tissue penetration of light
• drug activation by light
• luminescence
• spectral conversion
• up-conversion