Abstract
Near infrared (NIR) photodynamic activation is playing increasingly critical roles in cutting-edge anti-cancer nanomedicines, which include spatiotemporal control over induction of therapy, photodynamic priming, and phototriggered immunotherapy. Molecular targeted photonanomedicines (mt-PNMs) are tumor-specific nanoscale drug delivery systems, which capitalize on the unparalleled spatio-temporal precision of NIR photodynamic activation to augment the accuracy of tumor tissue treatment. mt-PNMs are emerging as a paradigm approach for the targeted treatment of solid tumors, yet remain highly complex and multifaceted. While ligand targeted nanomedicines in general suffer from interdependent challenges in biophysics, surface chemistry and nanotechnology, mt-PNMs provide distinct opportunities to synergistically potentiate the effects of ligand targeting. This review provides what we believe to be a much-need demarcation between the processes involved in tumor specificity (biomolecular recognition events) and tumor selectivity (preferential tumor accumulation) of ligand targeted nanomedicines, such as mt-PNMs, and elaborate on what NIR photodynamic activation has to offer. We discuss the interplay between both tumor specificity and tumor selectivity and the degree to which both may play central roles in cutting-edge NIR photoactivable nanotechnologies. A special emphasis is made on NIR photoactivable biomimetic nanotechnologies that capitalize on both specificity and selectivity phenomena to augment the safety and efficacy of photodynamic anti-tumor regimens.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 101052 |
| Number of pages | 27 |
| Journal | Nano Today |
| Volume | 36 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Feb 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Sabrina Oliveira , Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at Utrecht University with a shared position between division of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Biophysics, department of Biology and the division of Pharmaceutics, department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Her current research is focused on development and evaluation of improved therapies that are directed to relevant molecular targets. She worked as a postdoc at University Medical Center Utrecht on the development of tracers based on nanobodies for optical molecular imaging. She received her Ph.D. degree on Targeted Cancer Therapies from Utrecht University obtaining an individual doctoral grant from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.
Funding Information:
Tayyaba Hasan , Ph.D. is a Professor of Dermatology at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and a Professor of Dermatology at the Harvard-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Health Sciences and Technology joint program. Her research is focused on photodynamic therapy-based approaches for the treatment and diagnosis of disease. Her research is funded by the National Institutes of Health through a Program Project grant, several individual R01 grants, a UH2/UH3 grant and an Academic-Industrial Partnership grant. She has been awarded with number of honors including the 2015 International Photodynamic Association Lifetime Achievement Award.
Funding Information:
We thank Dr. Akilan Palanisami for insightful discussions. This work was supported by the United States of America National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute [ K99CA215301 and R00CA215301 to G.O., and P01CA084203 and R01CA160998 to T.H.]. Financial support from the University of Texas at Dallas Startup Fund and the University of Texas STARS program to G.O. is also gratefully acknowledged.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
Keywords
- Photodynamic therapy
- Photonanomedicines
- Selectivity
- Solid tumors
- Specificity
