Title:Gallium Phthalocyanine Photosensitizers: Carboxylation Enhances the Cellular Uptake and Improves the Photodynamic Therapy of Cancers
VOLUME: 12 ISSUE: 6
Author(s):Jin F. Zhao, Jing Wang, Ji-Yao Chen, Wadzanai Chidawanykia, Tebello Nyokong, Kazuyuki Ishii and Nagao Kobayashi
Affiliation:Department of Physics, Fudan University, NO 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, PR China.
Keywords:Phthalocyanine, Cellular uptake, Singlet oxygen, Photodynamic therapy
Abstract:The octacarboxyl gallium (GaPcC) and metal-free (H2PcC) phthalocyanines were prepared using the carboxyl as the peripheral
substituent. The carboxylation improves the intracellular delivery of these two PcCs into KB and QGY cancer cells as compared to that
of sulfonated aluminum phthalocyanines (AlPcS), a popularly used photosensitizer (PS). Moreover, GaPcC maintains high photoproduction
of singlet oxygen. With a short incubation time of 3 hours, GaPcC accumulates sufficiently in both KB and QGY cells and
improves photodynamic therapy (PDT) by effectively killing these cancer cells. AlPcS and H2PcC show much lower PDT effects under
the same conditions, because AlPcS have a slow cellular uptake rate resulting in a low cellular amount and the ability of H2PcC to
produce 1O2 is low. Carboxylation is a promising way to prepare water-soluble metal phthalocyanines (MPcCs) and facilitates the cellular
uptake of MPcCs for PDT improvement.
