Photothermally Enhanced Photodynamic Therapy Delivered by Nano-Graphene Oxide

Abstract

Graphene with unique physical and chemical properties has shown various potential applications in biomedicine. In this work, a photosensitizer molecule, Chlorin e6 (Ce6), is loaded on polyethylene glycol (PEG)-functionalized graphene oxide (GO) via supramolecular π-π stacking. The obtained GO-PEG-Ce6 complex shows excellent water solubility and is able to generate cytotoxic singlet oxygen under light excitation for photodynamic therapy (PDT). Owing to the significantly enhanced intracellular trafficking of photosensitizers, our GO-PEG-Ce6 complex offers a remarkably improved cancer cell photodynamic destruction effect compared to free Ce6. More importantly, we show that the photothermal effect of graphene can be utilized to promote the delivery of Ce6 molecules by mild local heating when exposed to a near-infrared laser at a low power density, further enhancing the PDT efficacy against cancer cells. Our work highlights the promise of using graphene for potential multifunctional cancer therapies.

Multifunctional upconversion–nanoparticles–trismethylpyridylporphyrin–fullerene nanocomposite: a near-infrared light-triggered theranostic platform for imaging-guided photodynamic therapy

“…Synthesis of β-NaGdF 4 :Yb,Tm@NaGdF 4 The β-NaGdF 4 :Yb,Tm@NaGdF 4 core/shell nanoparticles were synthesized with a modified thermolysis method. Three steps are included as following.…”

“…A gradient concentration (4,8,12,16,20 and 25%) of PC 70 in UCNPs solutions was centrifuged at 5000 r.p.m. min − 1 for 30 min.…”

Mesoporous carbon biomaterials

“…Similar to carbon nanotubes and graphene [68][69][70][71][72], MCNs show strong optical absorption in the NIR region (e.g., 808 nm), indicating potential utility as the photothermal agent for photothermal ablation of cancer cells because NIR light penetrates deeply into tissues and is harmless to normal tissues [52,53]. Xu et al [53] recently demonstrated that FA-targeted MCNs showed superior photothermal-conversion efficiency compared to graphene oxide and showed that NIR irradiation accelerated the release of pre-loaded anticancer drugs from MCNs.…”

Enhanced photoluminescence and characterization of multicolor carbon dots using plant soot as a carbon source

“…Carbon nanomaterials including carbon nanotubes, nanoparticles, nanofibers, graphene oxide and carbon dots (C-dots), have attracted great attention due to their wide applications in solar cells [1], bioimaging [2], photocatalysts [3], nanoelectronic devices [4], photodynamic therapy [5] and gene delivery [6]. Among them, carbon dots are a new class of functional nanomaterials exhibiting their inherently unique photoluminescent properties, such as wavelengthtuneable emission, excellent solubility, good biocompatibility and chemical inertion [7][8][9][10].…”