Construction of carrier-free porphyrin-based drug self-framed delivery system to reverse multidrug resistance through photodynamic-chemotherapy

Abstract

For clinical application, it is still giant challenge to reverse multidrug resistance. High efficiency, low toxicity and simplicity are key issues to design nanomedicines. Herein, we fabricated porphyrin-based drug self-framed delivery systems without any carrier via simple method, in which water-soluble photosensitizer (tetra sodium meso-tetra (sulfonatophenyl)-porphyrin, H2TPPS) and chemotherapeutic drug (doxorubicin, DOX) could self-assemble to form H2TPPS@DOX nanoparticles by supramolecular interaction such as hydrophobic, electrostatic and π-π stacking interactions. H2TPPS@DOX exhibited higher drug capacity of 42.4% and a relatively uniform size of average 90 nm, being demonstrated to maintain high-stable during blood circulation. Under light irradiation, H2TPPS@DOX could effectively generate singlet oxygen to obviously block DOX efflux and ultimately induce apoptosis to effectively reverse multidrug resistance of tumor cells. Moreover, the combination of photosensitizer and anticancer drug could enhance therapeutic effect, outlining a novel strategy to prepare synergistic drug delivery system to overcome multidrug resistance and improve treatment effect.