Inappropriate cancer management can be prevented by simultaneous cancer diagnosis, treatment, and real-time assessment of therapeutic processes. Here, we describe the design of a two-photon (TP) photosensitizer (PS), ACC-B, for high temporal and spatioselective near-infrared cancer therapy. ACC-B consisting of a biotin unit significantly enhanced the cancer sensitivity of the PS. Upon TP irradiation, ACC-B generated reactive oxygen species (ROS) through the type I photodynamic therapy (PDT) process and triggered highly selective cancer ablation. In addition, fluorescence microscopy images revealed that ACC-B-loaded live human colon tissues showed a marked difference in ACC-B uptake between normal and cancer tissues, and this property was used for real-time imaging. Upon 770 nm TP treatment, ACC-B generated ROS efficiently in live colon cancer tissues with high spatial selectivity. During PDT, ACC-B can provide in situ spatioselective visualization of cellular behavior and molecular information for therapeutic assessment in specific regions.
This work was supported by grants from the National Leading Research Lab Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Korean government (MSIP) (NRF-2019R1A2B5B03100278), the Center for Convergence Research of Neurological Disorders (NRF-2019R1A5A2026045), the GRRC program of Gyeonggi province (GRRCAJOU2019B02, Photonics Medical Convergence Technology Research Center), and the Ajou University research fund.
