A Bio-Conjugated Chlorin-Based Metal-Organic Framework for Targeted Photodynamic Therapy of Triple Negative Breast and Pancreatic Cancers

• Published in: ACS applied bio materials Vol. 4; no. 2; pp. 1432 - 1440
• Main Authors: Sakamaki, Yoshie, Ozdemir, John, Heidrick, Zachary, Azzun, Anthony, Watson, Olivia, Tsuji, Miu, Salmon, Christopher, Sinha, Arvind, Batta-Mpouma, Joseph, McConnell, Zachary, Fugitt, David, Du, Yuchun, Kim, Jin-Woo, Beyzavi, Hudson
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 15.02.2021
• Subjects: Antineoplastic Agents - administration & dosage; Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use; Cell Line, Tumor; Drug Delivery Systems; Humans; Molecular Structure; Nanostructures; Organometallic Compounds - chemistry; Pancreatic Neoplasms - therapy; Photochemotherapy; Porphyrins - chemistry; Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms - therapy; pancreatic cancer; photodynamic therapy (PDT); triple negative breast cancer (TNBC); drug delivery system (DDS); metal–organic framework (MOF)
• ISSN: 2576-6422
• DOI: 10.1021/acsabm.0c01324

The field of photodynamic therapy (PDT) has continued to show promise as a potential method for treating tumors. In this work a photosensitizer (PS) has been delivered to cancer cell lines for PDT by incorporation into the metal-organic framework (MOF) as an organic linker. By functionalizing the surface of MOF nanoparticles with maltotriose the PS can efficiently target cancer cells with preferential uptake into pancreatic and breast cancer cell lines. Effective targeting overcomes some current problems with PDT including long-term photosensitivity and tumor specificity. Developing a PS with optimal absorption and stability is one of the foremost challenges in PDT and the synthesis of a chlorin which is activated by long-wavelength light and is resistant to photo-bleaching is described. This chlorin-based MOF shows anti-cancer ability several times higher than that of porphyrin-based MOFs with little toxicity to normal cell lines and no dark toxicity.