Abstract
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has emerged as a non-invasive modality for treating tumors while a photosensitizer (PS) plays an indispensable role in PDT. Nevertheless, free PSs are limited by their low light stability, rapid blood clearance, and poor water solubility. Constructing a nanocarrier delivering PSs is an appealing and potential way to solve these issues. As a melanin-like biopolymer, polydopamine (PDA) is widely utilized in biomedical applications (drug delivery, tissue engineering, and cancer therapy) for its prominent properties, including favorable biocompatibility, easy preparation, and versatile functionality. PDA-based nanocarriers are thus leveraged to overcome the inherent shortcomings of free PSs. In this Mini-Review, we will firstly present an overview on the recent developments of PDA nanocarriers delivering PSs. Then, we introduce three distinctive strategies developed to combine PSs with PDA nanocarriers. The advantages and disadvantages of each strategy will be discussed. Finally, the current challenges and future opportunities of PDA-based PS nanocarriers will also be addressed.
Highlights
Cancer therapies commonly used in clinical practice, such as chemotherapy (Hu et al, 2016), surgery (Katz et al, 2005), and radiotherapy (Schaue and McBride, 2015), have reached their bottlenecks
PDA-based nanocarriers have a broad application in the field of nanomedicine due to its appealing properties, and the simple construction process gives it great potential for commercialscale production
Considering that PDA is full of functional groups, we first reviewed the studies on PS binding to PDA via chemical bond
Summary
Cancer therapies commonly used in clinical practice, such as chemotherapy (Hu et al, 2016), surgery (Katz et al, 2005), and radiotherapy (Schaue and McBride, 2015), have reached their bottlenecks. Upon 808-nm laser irradiation, the photothermal effect of PDA induced the destruction of A–T bonds, leading to the release of ZnPc. When irradiated with a 665-nm laser, ROS was generated from ZnPc. Based on the characteristics of the tumor microenvironment (TME), the introduction of responsive chemical/biological bonds to construct a TME-responsive (pH-, GSH-, enzyme-responsive) release nanoplatform will greatly improve drug delivery efficiency and reduce side effects. Chemical conjugation strategy is based primarily on the rich functional groups on PDA; any PS with one of these groups, amine, carboxylic, and thiol, is able to be directly combined with PDA.
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