Indocyanine Green-Loaded Liposomes for Light-Triggered Drug Release

Abstract

Light-triggered drug delivery systems enable site-specific and time-controlled drug release. In previous work, we have achieved this with liposomes containing gold nanoparticles in the aqueous core. Gold nanoparticles absorb near-infrared light and release the energy as heat that increases the permeability of the liposomal bilayer, thus releasing the contents of the liposome. In this work, we replaced the gold nanoparticles with the clinically approved imaging agent indocyanine green (ICG). The ICG liposomes were stable at storage conditions (4-22 °C) and at body temperature, and fast near-infrared (IR) light-triggered drug release was achieved with optimized phospholipid composition and a 1:50 ICG-to-lipid molar ratio. Encapsulated small molecular calcein and FITC-dextran (up to 20 kDa) were completely released from the liposomes after light exposure for 15 s. Location of ICG in the PEG layer of the liposomes was simulated with molecular dynamics. ICG has important benefits as a light-triggering agent in liposomes: fast content release, improved stability, improved possibility of liposomal size control, regulatory approval to use in humans, and the possibility of imaging the in vivo location of the liposomes based on the fluorescence of ICG. Near-infrared light used as a triggering mechanism has good tissue penetration and safety. Thus, ICG liposomes are an attractive option for light-controlled and efficient delivery of small and large drug molecules.

Encapsulation, controlled release, and antitumor efficacy of cisplatin delivered in liposomes composed of sterol-modified phospholipids

“…This resulted in a substantial decrease in tumor proliferation rate. Photoactivated systems such as devised in the group of Urtti using indo-cyanine green-doped liposomes, (Lajunen et al, 2016) can also mediate rapid contents release when illuminated. Such systems have the potential to provide a route to liposome compositions that can circulate a sufficient long time, deliver a substantial fraction of the dose into the tumor as the encapsulated Pt and be induced to rapidly deliver the contents.…”

PEGDA/PVP Microneedles with Tailorable Matrix Constitutions for Controllable Transdermal Drug Delivery

“…Tricarbocyanine dye indocyanine green (ICG) is approved as a photosensitizer by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clinical diagnosis. Recently, ICG has been extensively applied for tumor imaging and treatment . To demonstrate the effectiveness of such transdermal delivery of a real therapeutic drug, ICG‐loaded PEGDA/PVP microneedles were applied onto an agarose‐based mimic skin and the real dorsal skin of a live mouse.…”

Nanomedicine and epigenome. Possible health risks

“…Doxil ® (DOX-containing PEGylated liposome) was the first therapeutic liposomal delivery vehicle approved by the FDA in 1995 (Jain and Stylianopoulos, 2010). Since then, liposomal drug delivery systems are at the leading-edge of nanoscale drug delivery platform, because of their unique abilities to accommodate both therapeutic and diagnostic agents in a single closed lipid bilayer, made of either synthetic or natural phospholipids (Lajunen et al, 2016). Inorganic nanocarriers such as metals, metal oxides, metal sulfides etc.…”